


Broken Antlers, Clipped Wings, Shattered Fangs

by Salt00



Series: If we're all children of the Goddess, are you guys my siblings? [1]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Animal Transformation, Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Bonding, Crack Treated Seriously, Cuddling & Snuggling, Fluff and Angst, Gen, Get ready for There Was No Bed So They Used Dimitri, Graphic Description, Huddling For Warmth, Human Experimentation, Hurt/Comfort, Kinda, Look I just want these three to be bffs, Massive spoilers for all routes, Platonic Relationships, Sickfic, Spoilers, Torture, Touch-Starved, You've all heard of There Was Only One Bed, but they trade turns with who is sick, internalized ableism
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-02
Updated: 2019-10-13
Packaged: 2020-11-15 01:34:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 25,261
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20858042
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Salt00/pseuds/Salt00
Summary: They were locked away in a cold cell, in the middle of who-knows-where, with no hope of escape in sight. An old nightmare returns to haunt Edelgard, but this time she isn't the only one being experimented on. With each passing day and every prick of the needle, Claude was helpless as he watched his hopes and dream grow too far to reach. Dimitri had known he was a beast for years, but now it was becoming far too literal.At least they had each other.Note: Spoilers for all routes





	1. Haze of White Camels and Screams

**Author's Note:**

> Alternative summery: my touch-starved ass had a weird but cute dream that begged to be written. Then as it was written it imminently became angsty. Woops. 
> 
> It's written as platonic, which I *do* realize is probably unrealistic for three 17 year olds trapped in an enclosed space together, however it's my fic and I'm ace af. These kids don't have time for romance, they've got countries to run! *insert excuse here*. idk, maybe it'll develop into something deeper later along the road. We'll see.
> 
> Please note I haven't played Azure Moon and I'm only halfway through Crimson Rose. If there are any inconsistencies with canon, that's why.

Edelgard was having a difficult time reining in her frustration. She was struggling not to shiver despite the endless chill. Dimitri pacing in front of her, in the already cramped cell, only added to the frustration. “Will you sit down already?”

Dimitri halted in his steps and flashed her a guilty look. “Sorry, sorry. I am… restless. Worried.” He sunk down near her, wrapping an arm around his legs and resting his head on his knees. “How long do you suppose we will be captured here?”

Edelgard felt a small sting of guilt but brushed it away with practiced ease. She wished she had an answer to give Dimitri, if only so she could know herself. The bandits she had hired were supposed to kill Dimitri and Claude, while she would be able to escape. The confines of the small cell was enough evidence that things had not gone as planned.

The bandits had taken all three of them alive for ransom. She blamed herself— she had assumed the bandits would be too stupid to go against her orders. And even more unfortunate, they hadn’t been ransomed to the Empire, Kingdom, or Alliance. It was an unknown faction that held them.

The cell door flung open, Claude’s body tossed to the floor before shutting again. She and Dimitri were immediately on their feet, rushing the short distance that separated them.

Claude was unconscious, that much was clear. He was pale, giving his usual tanned skin an awful sickly pallor. His features were scrunched and eyes screwed shut tight. He began to toss and turn, moaning. He shivered on the cold floor, curling into himself. Edelgard couldn’t help but feel dirty viewing her normally flippant peer in such a dire state. He looked so small. 

“Damn, I can’t stand this…” Dimitri muttered. His gaze met hers, his eyes beseeching for any kind of answer. “There must be something we can do.”

She shook her head. “We’ve already tried escaping. Your strength couldn’t break us out, nor Claude’s cunning schemes. I hate to say it but there’s nothing to be done.” The doors were enchanted, they had quickly learned. Even when the door was wide open, they still couldn’t pass through unless their captor willed it.

Claude moaned again, writhing in his sleep. She couldn’t bare to keep looking at him. The thrumming  _ guilt, guilt, guilt, _ was harder to ignore than usual. She knew she had no one to blame but herself for this situation. As much as she wanted to turn her wrath to the bandits that had captured and ransomed them away,  _ she _ had been the one to hire them originally. She had hired them to  _ kill _ Dimitri and Claude, not ransom them, but in the end she should have known bandits couldn’t be trusted to keep their end of the bargain.

Of course, had the bandits followed her order, she would be dead right along side the other two. For that, she blamed Claude and his unpredictability. Any other noble would have acted as Dimitri had: standing their ground even against an overwhelming foe. But no, Claude had no qualms with cowardice, and Dimitri had followed their fleeing companion. It had left Edelgard no choice but to follow— away from  _ her _ allies laying in wait.

Perhaps she should feel satisfaction at Claude’s suffering. She would prefer satisfaction rather than the twisting guilt. Yet as easy as it would be, she couldn’t bring herself to hate him.

Dimitri muttered something quiet to himself, settling in beside Claude. He took off his blue cape and wrapped it around Claude, pulling the smaller teen close. Claude, being Claude, gave a few weak twitches, trying to push away. “Please Claude, be calm. You’ll freeze if you sleep on the stone…”

Edelgard herself was still struggling to hold back her shivering. The cell they were kept in was frigid, and there was nothing but her thin school uniforms between her and the unforgiving stone floor. Her red tights did little to block out the cold.

Time passed, though how much of it she could not tell. There was no window to see outside, the only light was a pitiful amount streaming in from the hallway. Claude’s condition only worsened as he broke into a cold sweat. He began muttering feverishly, though as far as she could tell it was complete nonsense. Certainly nothing of the language of Fódland. Where he had originally pushed away from Dimitri, Claude now clutched the other boy tightly, burrowing as close as he could.

The longer she stewed in her thoughts, the more dread began to build in her stomach. Though the three of them had been roughed up a considerable amount when they awoke in their cell, they had otherwise been fine. Claude had been fine, until their captors had taken him away. There were no visible injuries, yet he was clearly sick or poisoned.

It did not bode well.

A tray of food was delivered through a slot in their door, causing her to startle. A quick glance to Dimitri’s still occupied lap meant that it was up to her to investigate. Three bowls of some form of grey porridge and a bucket of water. She couldn’t suppress the twist of disgust her lips made. She brought the tray to Dimitri, hesitating. “We have no method to determine if there are poisons in this food.”

Dimitri nodded. “Indeed. And I have no doubt our captors wouldn’t hesitate to dose our food.” His eyes strayed back to Claude’s twitching face. “Yet we cannot  _ not _ eat. We will need our strength. I’ll eat mine, and if I do not fall ill we can assume it’s safe.”

Edelgard nodded, holding out a bowl. Having been given no utensils, Dimitri had no choice but to slurp the thick porridge. The Dimitri she had known in her childhood would have been terribly embarrassed at the display, but this older Dimitri merely ate his food without complaint. Child Dimitri would have scrunched his nose at the no doubt horrendous taste of the meal, but this Dimitri might as well be eating from the monastery cafeteria for all he minded the taste.

She forced her head to look down at Claude. She shouldn’t be thinking about the Dimitri she once knew— neither of them were the same now, especially the naive girl she had once been.

Time passed, and as it did Edelgard felt herself grow increasingly frustrated with her inability to know how long they waited. Had it been an hour, or three? Or less than an hour? Perhaps a day?

Her musings were cut short as she heard a surprisingly coherent mumble from Claude. “Nuuugh… D’mtri?”

Dimitri jerked in surprise. His face reddened, causing Edelgard a small flash of amusement. Claude was curled up around Dimitri, and Dimitri had been rubbing circles on the other boy’s back. Dimitri awkwardly withdrew his hand, then having nowhere else to put it, place it back on Claude. “Ah, Claude. Are you awake?” Dimitri whispered, as though he was afraid anything louder would shatter Claude.

Yet even the whisper made Claude’s face twist. “Guh, not so loud... either I’m awake or this is a painful lucid dream.” 

Despite his claims, Edelgard noted that his eyes were not focused on anything at all. “Claude, you’ve been feverish for the last… for awhile now.”

Claude choked a tiny laugh that morphed into a groan. “Yeah… that feels about right. Wha’ happened?”

Edelgard exchanged a glance with Dimitri. “We’re not sure,” Dimitri began, as quietly as he could, “our captors took you away, and brought you back like this.”

Claude was silent, brow scrunching together. “Oh… right. They drugged me, ‘m sure of it. Don’t remember anything after that.” He ran a hand along his face, wiping away beats of sweat. “Gods, my head is going to  _ explode.” _

“Now that you’re awake, you should eat,” Dimitri said, grabbing for one of the bowls. He gave a pointed look at Edelgard to also eat.

Claude’s unfocused yet distrustful gaze the the bowl would have been humorous had the circumstances been different. “Nnnnope, not gonna happen.”

Dimitri sighed. “Claude, please. You must eat. I tried some earlier, and I don’t think it’s poisoned if that is your fear.”

“You know me so well.” Dimitri lifted the bowl to Claude’s mouth, but Claude sputtered and wiggled away from it. “Nope! No!”

Claude proceeded to try and wiggle his way off of Dimitri’s lap and onto the floor. Dimitri was having none of that, his arms too strong for Claude to break. “Claude, what are you doing? Stay still!”

Claude moaned and went limp. “Why’m I even on your lap…?” His face gained a slight flush to the pale pallor, embarrassed rather than sickly.

Dimitri made up for Claude’s paleness with his own beet red face. “Ah. Well. You were shivering, and we couldn’t just leave you to sleep on the stone! Isn’t that right, Edelgard?” The social desperation that painted his face brought her a small smile that she could not repress.

“Indeed. Dimitri has been quite diligent in pampering you as best he can,” Edelgard said with as straight of a face as she could muster. Then she took a sip of the slop they called food and grimaced. She felt a growing seed of respect for Dimitri, to be able to eat this without a single complaint.

“’Kay, well I’m awake now. You can let me go.” Claude mumbled from where he curled up closer to Dimitri, seeming unaware of his actions. He rested his head against the cold metal of Dimitri's gauntlets, letting out a sigh.

Setting aside her half-eaten meal, Edelgard rested a hand on Claude’s forehead. He jerked back and gave a pitiful moan. “Still feverish,” she muttered. It was far harder to bury her guilt when she was confined to the same small area. She had no way to avoid facing it. “I think…” She trailed off as a faint rhythmic sound came from outside their cell. Eyes widening, she lifted a finger to her lips.

In the silence, the sound of heavy boots along the stone floor only grew louder and louder, like a bell tolling damnation. Dimitri clutched Claude closer to his chest, exchanging a fearful look with her. And  _ damn her _ but she felt fear.

The steps grew ever closer, only silent as shadows blocked the small amount of light that filtered into their cell. A thick jangle and the heavy door creaked open. Two armed guards flanked a man in a bird mask. A gasp punched from her lips, her body felt as if plunged into icy waters. 

She recognized that mask.

She was allied with Those who Slither in the Dark, as much as it grated at her. Yet all she could think of was the haunting memories of her childhood imprisonment and experimentation. That very same black mask as the ones used by her former tormentors faced her.

“The girl will be next,” the masked man slowly drawled, each syllable sliding like oil into her ears. He raised a single gloved finger and pointed to her.

In this moment, she was no longer Edelgard von Hresvelg, heir to the Empire. As her vision tunneled at the man’s mask, her thoughts spun in a panicked repetition of  _ no, no, no, Goddess please no! _ She sucked in air yet couldn’t seem to breathe as the two guards marched towards her. She was no longer Edelgard, strong and confident and prepared to carve out her own future with her axe. She was scared. She was the same little girl that she thought had been killed and buried, left behind as too weak.

“No…” She choked through gasps that brought her no air. She backed away, trying to push herself into the wall itself. “No…!” She shook her head, tears streaming down her face.

The two guards didn’t hesitate as they roughly grabbed her. She tried to kick and scream, but it did no good. She was just as weak as she had ever been.  _ This was her worst nightmare. _

“Now now, settle down little girl…” the masked man cooed, long needle in hand. The needle grew closer and she thrashed harder, with everything she had. She screamed and screamed, but she couldn’t do  _ anything _ as the needle gave a familiar pick at her neck. Then her world fell away.

* * *

  
  


When Claude first woke, head pounding like nothing else, he’d been disoriented. Nausea was an old friend courtesy of his hobby testing and making poisons, but this was something else. He knew what it felt like to be poisoned by all sorts of things, and this wasn’t it.

His world swam and bucked around him, his body shivering. He couldn’t tell where he was, so despite it being the last thing he wanted to do, he heaved his eyelids open.

He hissed at the faint light that stabbed at his brain. Yet what the light illuminated surprised him. Instead of his bedroom ceiling, or even an unfamiliar ceiling, he saw a pair of blue eyes staring off into nothingness. Perhaps it was the fever he could feel churning under his skin, but his breath hitched at the sight. The eyes looked vacant. Dead.

“Nuuugh… Dimitri?” Claude choked past his haze of pain.

Dimitri startled, shaking Claude as well. Needles of pain stabbed through his head at even the small movement. The calming circles being rubbed into his back stopped, something Claude hadn’t noticed until they ended.

“Ah Claude, are you awake?” Dimitri whispered, the noise echoing in Claude’s head as the quiet words shot a searing bolt of fire behind his eyes. But Claude was grateful for the sound. With Dimitri’s eyes fixed onto his own, Claude felt foolish for the momentary fear that the other had been dead.

Claude wasn’t entirely sure what he said in response, words like sandpaper flowing from his tongue. He winced, trying to gather his thoughts. Edelgard said something else, loud and painful despite the whispered quality.

His eyes couldn’t seem to focus as he took in his surroundings. A cell, of sorts. Just him, Dimitri, and Edelgard. Memories of their ill-fated bandit run-in flashed through his head. More memories of waking up after, then being taken away. They drugged him with something— not a poison, just something to knock him out.

Responding to the two lordlings was taxing. Being awake was taxing.  _ Existing at all _ felt taxing. He felt a pressure pushing at his skull, pain pulsing with each beat of his heart. He swiped a hand along his sweaty forehead. He wondered how much it would take for his head to crack open like an eggshell.

Then they were trying to force him to eat. He refused, nausea making the idea entirely out of the question. 

Dimitri sighed. “Claude, please. You must eat. I tried some earlier, and I don’t think it’s poisoned if that’s your fear.”

Claude cracked a tiny smile at that. Of course Dimitri would think he was worried about poisoning. A valid concern, one he probably should have cared more about. But Claude was also damn near immune to anything but the most deadly of concoctions. Which made him wonder just how much they had to inject him with to get him to go down.

Then Dimitri was pushing the bowl at his lips, and Claude struggled back, fighting the bile threatening to rise. As he wriggled from the bowl, Claude realized that while he wasn’t on a bed, he also wasn’t on the ground either. Eyeing Dimitri’s close face, his position, and the warmth radiating around him, Claude came to the conclusion that he was resting  _ on _ Dimitri.

He jerked and tried to worm his way out of the oppressive hold he found himself in. Dimitri could do any manner of harm to Claude, and Claude knew he would be helpless. Dimitri could probably snap his neck if he so chose. The position Claude rested in, all he could see was the ceiling or Dimitri. He couldn’t see any exit or door, couldn’t protect his back.

Dimitri was literally holding Claude’s life.

But he couldn’t free himself from Dimitri’s hold, and his massive headache blinded him in a flash of white pain as he thrashed a little too much. Defeated, he gave up the fight. He couldn’t trust Dimitri or Edelgard, but he also didn’t have a choice. He hated the feeling of helplessness that washed over him. He was too weakened to so much as roll himself onto the ground, nevermind defending himself from physical harm.

“Why’m I even on your lap…?” He hated the grateful feelings that welled up in his chest. He was so cold, but Dimitri was warm. He didn’t want to think about how much colder the floor would have been.

He would have to hope Dimitri’s chivalry would win out in the end. If Claude died here, it would throw the whole Alliance into disarray, which would easily be beneficial to the two rulers beside him. Edelgard would hopefully see this as a chance to have a favor to hold over his head. Couldn’t cash in a favor if he was dead.

He hated relying on  _ hope _ of all things.

Of course, if he died, then there was the Almyra problem. What would his father do, if his son died only a year into his time in Fódland? If the prince of Almyra died, not in glorious battle but rather through cruel torture hidden away? Claude couldn’t know for sure. His father wasn’t the vengeful type, but dying like this? If his father ever found out… Claude couldn’t be sure. He might bring war to Fódland—  _ true _ war, not the minor border skirmishes that his people did for fun.

Not that either of the leaders present knew about those potential consequences. He couldn’t afford to show weakness.

“’Kay, well I’m awake now. You can let me go,” Claude said with every intention of disentangling himself from Dimitri. Then another spike of pain lanced through his head, causing him to clutch closer to Dimitri’s warmth. He rested his head along Dimitri’s cold gauntlet, chilling the pain behind his eyes ever so slightly.

Edelgard rested a hand on his forehead. Despite her giving the lightest of touch, the pressure still shot a streak of lightning pain through his head.

Then the door crashed open, the sound leaving him gasping in pain. He tried to focus, but his eyes squeezed shut against the light burning into his eye sockets.

These were their captors though, it was important to see them. Clutching Dimitri’s arm with a vice, Claude braced himself as he forced his eyes open. It was difficult to think through the pain, but he pushed past it with years of experience. He rolled over as best he could, away from Dimitri’s stomach and out facing the door. He heard the voice of a man, one that sent shivers down his spine that had nothing to do with the cold. It was the same voice as the man who had taken him earlier, but he should have expected that.

Claude wasn’t facing the door, though. He was facing Edelgard.

Her face was split with a visceral expression of fear— entirely unguarded in true terror. In the light he could see how she shook, hyperventilating as the guards stepped towards her. It sent a mirror thrill of terror through him; this was something that Edelgard recognized and  _ feared _ like nothing else she had ever shown. A terror so deep there was no ability to hide it.

And then she was taken away. Her screams still rattled through Claude’s pounding skull, and he knew they would haunt his nights for the rest of his life.

He was shaking, but realized so too was Dimitri. In fact, Dimitri had him clutched close to his chest, protectively. The back of his mind ticked this as a good sign, meaning it was less likely that Dimitri would allow Claude to die for political reasons. The rest of his thoughts, however, were afraid. Afraid and in pain.

Though he kept the fact close to his chest, he had been the target of many kidnappings before. He didn’t let anyone see that the experiences affected him, not even to those who knew. After a while, the whole ordeal had become almost a fun challenge. A puzzle, looking to see if he could escape before he was rescued or ransomed back. There was danger, of course— but if he was kidnapped rather than an attempt at assasination, that meant they wanted him alive. They still scared him, but he was able to lie to himself that they didn’t.

This was different. It was obvious there would be no ransom. No way to escape. The three most important people of Fódland's next generation: helpless. The Church of Seiros would be looking for them, but there was no telling how long that would take.

“—aude? Claude?!” Dimitri was shaking him, bringing Claude out of his thoughts.

“Mmyeah?”

Dimitri sighed, his shoulders slumping. “Do not scare me so, Claude. You weren’t responding to me.”

Claude grimaced. Was he so lost in his own head he didn’t notice?... Actually it was probably the fault of the fever. “Sorry. ’M listening now, your Princeliness.” He tried to give one of his usual smirks. Dimitri ran a hand through Claude’s hair. Claude was embarrassed that his body responded by leaning into the touch.

“I said— well. It is no matter…” Dimitri’s words were filled with a small quaver. His next words were whispered. “I’ve never seen El so terrified.”

_ El? _ Claude tucked the nickname into the back of his mind. “Yeah. Didn’t know she had it in her.”

Dimitri was silent, clutching Claude a little closer. In any other situation, Claude would have hated having someone so unknown and untrustworthy so close and with so much power over him. But now, alone in this cell with Dimitri, after the visceral fear of Edelgard, Claude couldn’t help but feel relieved.

Claude felt his eyelids begin to slide lower. But the remembered screams forced him to keep his eyes open and awake. But the pain radiating from his skull was quickly chipping away at his will. “I think I’m gonna pass out,” Claude murmured into Dimitri’s chest.

“You should. You still have a fever.”

Claude groaned. The thought of oblivion from pain was so,  _ so _ tempting. Yet for each moment of silence, the memory of Edelgard’s screams seemed to choke the room. He tilted his head looking up into the blue eyes pouring into his. Dimitri’s eyes were shadowed and wide, his whole body still trembling.

Dimitri’s hand still carded through Claude’s hair,  _ nice _ in a way that couldn’t help but remind him of his mother. Slow and ever so gentle, as though Dimitri was afraid of breaking Claude.

“How about I tell you a story?” Claude said. For what else was there to fill the silence with? He wasn’t about to talk about the weather.

“A story? Shouldn’t I tell  _ you _ one?”

“Nah,” Claude waved a shivering hand. “I can’t be falling asleep just yet. Need something to keep me awake. Tell you what— I’ll tell you a story, and you can tell me one later. Deal?”

“I… I am not so good a story teller. I don’t know many stories. But… I accept.”

Claude winked. “‘S fine, don’t you worry about it.” Then he paused, trying to think of something. He knew many, many folk stories from his Almyran ancestry, but his secret was a secret for a reason. The few stories he knew of Fódland were the ones everyone knew, and no doubt ones Dimitri had grown up hearing a thousand times.

But he had already offered to tell a story. To fill the silence.  _ Just repaying Dimitri, _ Claude told himself. Evening the scales, repaying his debt. That was all. It had nothing to do with the haunted look cast over Dimitri as the silence dragged on.

… It wasn’t like Dimitri would even be able to recognize his tales as Almyran anyways. Surely there was no harm in it... 

“Alright, if I drift off, wake me up, ‘kay Dimitri? So, my father once told me this old story from a foreign land. Once upon a time, there was a white camel that was separated from its herd…”

Claude’s body ached as he told the old story, but he pressed on. Dimitri’s eyes were fixed on him, not some ghost in the back of his mind. Each syllable that he spoke twisted the fork in his head, but he was repaying Dimitri. It was worth it.

“... and then the white camel lived happily ever after, the end. So, how was that?”

“Thank you Claude. I’ve never heard that story before. It was very moving. I would like to hear it again some day, I think.” Dimitri swallowed roughly. “Truly Claude, thank you. Don’t think I don’t know what you did.”

Claude huffed a tiny laugh. “You know me, always scheming. It’s my nature, I could do it in my sleep. Nothing personal, Highness.”

“Please, don’t,” Dimitri’s soft voice begged, “don’t call me that.”

Claude blinked back the fatigue in his head. “Don’t call you… Highness?”

“Yes. Please, Claude, we are equals. Especially in our current situation.” Dimitri gave a wretched smile. “I feel far more like a rat than a royal, at the moment.”

“Mmm…” Claude hummed into Dimitri’s chest. “So, why don’t you tell me your story?”

“Oh, right. I suppose I can… I don’t know many, though. I’m sure you’ve heard the ‘Sword of Kyphon’ before?”

“Nope, I haven’t. Regale me, Oh Princ— er, Dimitri.”

“You haven’t? Perhaps it is less popular outside of Faerghus, then. Well, it begins with Kyphon, right hand and best friend to King Loog. Well, Loog wasn’t king at the start of the story, but…”

Claude tried to stay awake through the tale, but his eyelids grew heavy. He hadn’t been lying when he said he’d never heard it before. But between Dimitri’s soft words, the hand filing through his hair, and his own fatigue, Claude felt himself slip off…

His dreams were spiced by Dimitri’s voice, unintelligible and speaking words that rumbled through his chest and radiates warmth. He dreamed of an axe striking his head, Dimitri trying to find him a healer but just as they grew close the healer would vanish. He dreamed of Almyra, of his mother and father by his bedside.

Then very suddenly, he wasn’t dreaming at all.

His eyes slammed open. All he could make was a choked sound as he was flooded with agony. He gasped as another wave hit his senses.

Claude screamed and writhed as the pain spiked through his skull. Something was  _ wrong. _

“Claude!” Dimitri’s voice assaulted his senses.

“Nggh,” was the most Claude could force out between screams. His hand found Dimitri’s arm and gripped like his life depended on it. His other hand gripped his own head, as if he could prevent his head from splitting open by holding it together.

_ His skull was going to shatter! _

“What’s wrong Claude?!”

Claude shook his head, pain unbearable. He threw back his head and screamed again. He panted and gasped as the pulses of pain continued to strobe outwards from the crown of his head. 

It hurt, it hurt,  _ it hurt hurt hurt hurt hurt—  _

Then his eyes rolled into the back of his head, and he blissfully knew nothing. 

* * *

  
  
  


When Claude woke, he felt significantly better. He nuzzled closer to the warmth, trying to burrow under the blankets and sleep for another five minutes.

“Claude?!” Dimitri’s voice broke Claude’s relaxed thoughts, his mind lazily understanding that something was different than usual. He tried again to pull on the tight covers.

“What are you doing?” Dimitri muttered quietly to himself, his gloved hands cold as they swatted at Claude.

_ Wait, why is Dimitri here? _

Claude opened his eyes to darkness. His face was pressed against a warm blanket. “‘M tryin’ to sleep…” he mumbled into his blanket. His throat hurt. He tugged at it again, and it still stubbornly remained where it was.

“Then why are you trying to undress me?!” Dimitri’s slightly hysterical whisper broke through the fog of Claude’s thoughts. He stopped tugging at the blanket.

“...Huh?” Raising his head from the warm bed, Claude met Dimitri’s red face. Claude squinted in the dim light. Then he looked down, and saw that he was not on a bed, nor were there any blankets, aside from Dimitri’s thin cape. Rather, Claude had been attempting to burrow into Dimitri’s shirt.

Face red enough to match Dimitri’s, Claude looked back up at the other teen. He tried to scramble off Dimitri, but strong hands stopped his struggling.  _ This feels familiar... _

“Stop moving!” Dimitri hissed. “You’ll wake her.”

Swinging his head to his left, he saw Edelgard resting beside him, also on Dimitri. In fact, she was sharing Dimitri’s blanket-cape with him.

Then he looked around to see the dim vision of their cell. Ice crawled down his back as memories and half-remembered dreams returned to him.

“Oh. Ooooh. Right. How long was I asleep for? I feel like I’ve missed a lot.”

Dimitri sighed. “I don’t know for how long, but if I had to guess they returned Edelgard a few hours ago. You’ve been sleeping for a bit longer than that.” He paused, staring with an intense expression at Claude. “... How do you feel?”

“Wrung out.” Claude answered with an immediate honesty that surprised him.

Dimitri was peering closely at him. “... How is your head?”

Claude frowned. His head? It felt fine. Then memories of pain crashed into him. Feverish memories that were far clearer than he had any desire to remember. “Right, right. Uh, honestly I feel better. No nausea or vertigo— I’m pretty hungry, actually.”

Dimitri relaxed as tension left him. A fact that Claude  _ felt _ more than saw, because he was still  _ laying on Dimitri, cuddled up to him and Edelgard—  _

Before his mind could go any further with those thoughts, a bowl of something was given to him. “They dropped off another serving of food a little while ago, but this is actually your portion from earlier.”

Sure enough, Claude could see the dark outline of three bowls on a tray by the doorway. Noticeably farther than Dimitri could reach, and considering he was bed for the two of them...

_ Food is food, _ Claude told himself as he downed the slop as quickly as his throat would allow him.

“That bad?” Dimitri gave a small chuckle.

Having eaten, Claude’s eyes drifted to the small huddled form beside him. “How’s her Highness?”

Dimitri’s face fell. “She hasn’t woken, but she appears fine otherwise. Not like— well, not like you did.”

“Lucky her,” Claude said, sounding more bitter than he intended. He sighed and scrubbed a hand along his face. Flakes of something peeled off onto his hand, causing him to freeze. He brought his hand in front of him, dark flakes of  _ something. _

“Claude? Is something wrong?”

“Do I have something on my face, Dimitri?” Claude asked as casually as he could manage.

Dimitri took Claude’s chin tilted his chin higher to see clearer. “It’s rather dark, but there does appear to be… something…” Dimitri’s cold gauntlet swiped a thumb along the side of his temple. Dimitri brought it close to his face and sniffed, his body tensing beneath Claude. “Blood.”

“Yeah, that’s kinda what I figured…” Claude said as breezily as he could, trying not to freak out. “Did I hit my head in my sleep?”

Dimitri shook his head. “At one point you woke, screaming and flailing, clutching your head. I… I confess, I feared you were dying. But your head struck nothing.”

Claude could vaguely remember something resembling that memory. “So that’s why my throat hurts…” He scrubbed a hand along his forehead, dry blood flaking into his fingers. “But I feel fine now…” He thought over the mystery, his hand threading through his hair. Then he felt it.  _ Them. _

“...Dimitri,” Claude whispered.

“What is it?”

Claude swallowed. “I uh. I think I know why my head was hurting.” Claude took Dimitri’s hand into his own, hesitating. Yet, the  _ insanity _ of it pushed him forward. He needed someone else to confirm what he found. Claude guided Dimitri’s hand to his head, nestled in the curls of his hair.

Dimitri’s eyes widened. “Claude, is that—?”

“Ah! Careful!” Claude jerked back as pain spiked through his head. “Fuck,” he spit, “ow.” He brought his own hand back up to cradle his head, looking down as he rode through the pain.

“I’m sorry!”

Claude waved a hand. “It’s fine, ahh dammit. Fuck. That hurt.” He looked back up at Dimitri’s guilty face. “Don’t worry about it, that was going to be my next test anyways.” His expression faltered. “These things are definitely attached to me.”

Dimitri’s hands hovered awkwardly. “Claude. Those are… those are horns, right?”

Claude shrugged. “Seems like it? Must be where the blood came from too, then. Damn… what did they do to me…?” Claude’s eyes landed back on the still sleeping Edelgard. “Do you think they did the same to her?”

“I don’t know for sure, but… No, I don’t think so.”

Dimitri was not able to elaborate, as the door to their cell opened. His arms tightened protectively around Claude and Edelgard.

The same masked man and his two guards entered the cell. “And for the last, we have Blaiddyd. I will give you the choice to stand and walk on your own, boy. I’d hate to rough up the other two experiments.”

Claude bared his teeth at the man, tensing and ready to fight. Dimitri nodded. “Don’t hurt them, please.”

With gentle care, he placed Edelgard on the ground, then manhandled Claude next to her. Were the circumstances different, he would have been offended to be lifted like he weighed no more than a loaf of bread. But the protest was frozen in his throat, along with everything else he wanted to say.  _ ‘Fight back’  _ or  _ ‘don’t go’. _ But he didn’t say either, because Dimitri knew equally how pointless it was at the moment.

Dimitri walked to the door, turning to look back at Claude. He willingly bared his neck to the doctor’s needle.

Then Claude was alone. Alone in the silence and the darkness.

A shiver racked through him, bringing him back to the present. His eyes drifted to Edelgard, huddled in on herself wrapped in Dimitri’s cape. Shivering.

His eyes drifted to his own tiny cape. He tugged it off his shoulder nonetheless; it was better than nothing. He did the same with Edelgard’s cape, which was at least longer than his own. He laid the two strips of fabric along the stone floor. It wouldn’t be much protection, but it would be better than nothing.

He was freezing, and Edelgard was freezing. He went to pick her up and flinched as his hand touched her back and met flesh instead of fabric. Peering closer, he noted that the back of her uniform had been cut down the center. He felt bile rise in his throat at the possible implications. He steeled himself, picking her up and nestling her in his lap, wrapping Dimitri’s cloak around them both.

It was silent, aside from the sounds of his and Edelgard’s breathing. His mind went back to her shirt.  _ Why? _ He didn’t know, but he hated the possibilities. He wasn’t sure which would be better; experimentation on her back, or sexual violations. It was a small comfort that, were it the latter, then surely the front of her shirt would have been cut instead.

The silence felt loud. Too quiet, too quiet. Glancing down at the Emperor-to-be, he couldn’t help the echo of her scream that rattled through his head.

“How about a story?” He found himself saying, despite his sore throat. “I already told it to Dimitri, so I might as well as tell you too, while he’s g— while he isn’t here.”

He paused, then felt silly. She was still sleeping. Yet hazy memories of Dimitri’s voice during his dream spurred him on. “It’s an old story my father used to tell me when I was a child. Once upon a time…”

He spun the same story he had earlier, anything to keep his mind from the consuming silence.

He was glad the story was a long one.

* * *

“... Still separated from his family, the white camel—” 

“Claude?”

“Bah! You’re awake!” Edelgard peered up at him, confused.

“W-where…?” She rasped, craning her head to look around their cell.

Something inside Claude hurt at the small confused look on her face. Then her eyes lost their fog and she blinked.

“Oh. The… cell?”

“Yeah, still here. How’re you feeling?”

Edelgard regarded him through narrow eyes. “... I’m fine.”

Claude had to physically hold himself back from rolling his eyes. The ‘I’m fine’ line never meant a person was fine.

“Is that blood on your face?”

“Yep, but I’m feeling much better than before. How’s your, uh, back?”

Her eyes widened. “It— how did you know?”

Claude grimaced. “The back of your uniform is cut. Lucky guess.”

She took a deep breath. Then another. “They have Dimitri.” She changed the subject, but Claude let her.

“Yeah.”

She shook, tremors replacing shivers. 

“Hey hey, calm down. They haven’t killed us yet, and they don’t seem interested in killing us, either…”

Edelgard gave a bitter laugh, surprising him. “Until their experiments fail.”

Something in her tone made Claude frown. Something niggling at the back of his mind. The way she had screamed at the masked-man, the certainty of terror.

Claude narrowed his eyes. Edelgard had  _ recognized  _ that she had something to fear.

“So, you recognized the bird-man.”

Edelgard sucked in a breath, a damning tell that confirmed his statement. Edelgard knew that he knew, there was no point in her denying it. “... I recognize the uniform.”

“There are other bird-people, then? Clearly you’ve had a run-in with them before.”

Edelgard grit her teeth and looked away. “And if I have?”

“If you have, then I think it would benefit us both to be on the same page.”

“They’re monsters. They care about nothing but results. Lives mean nothing to them. Is that enough?”

Claude rolled his eyes. “Not really, no. There’s more you could be saying— you’re holding back knowledge. I have to wonder why that might be.”

“Perhaps it is something  _ traumatic _ that I  _ do not wish to speak of? _ ”

“Oh sorry, your pretty princessness, I didn’t intend to hurt your delicate feelings. Just trying to, oh I don’t know, figure out our situation? Our chances, ways to fight back— that sort of thing.”

If Edelgard’s glare could have held real heat, Claude wouldn’t need to be cuddling with her for warmth.

“The past can’t hurt you, but the present can and  _ will. _ So will you throw me a bone yet?”

She pushed away from him, dragging the blue warmth of Dimitri's cape with her. “I don’t need you,” she hissed.

“Ah, shit!” Claude muttered as cold air and the missing warmth hit him. “Fine, keep your secret!”

Edelgard crawled to the corner opposite of him, deliberately turning away. He felt a small stab of guilt at the trembles that still wracked her body, yet the guilt wasn’t enough to erode the frustration at her refusal to speak.

He couldn’t help but despise the silence between them, however. The cold grew and nipped at his bones. He could hear chattering teeth, but he wasn’t sure if they were his own or hers.

He didn’t know how long their cold stalemate lasted. It felt like an eternity, but it was probably only a few hours. Yet each second passed as though frozen, barely passing at all.

Then he heard a whimper.

His head whipped around to Edelgard. Still shaking, far too pale. Cold sweat poured down her face. She was curled in on herself, arms hugging her waist.

_ Shit.  _ He shoved his pride aside and crawled over to her. “What’s wrong?” He whispered urgently.

She huffed. “‘M fine.”

Claude groaned. “You’re  _ not,  _ just like how  _ I _ wasn’t before. Look, I’m sorry about earlier, okay?”

Edelgard squeezed her eyes shut. “I think…” Her eyes opened to look at him with desperation, tears glistening. “I think I’m going to die.”

Claude jolted, panic flooding his body before his mind could catch up. He took a deep breath, remembering how only hours before he had thought the same for himself. He knelt beside her. “You won’t, don’t give me that.”

“It hurts,” she gasped.

“I know. But you’ll get past this. After all, you have before, and you will again.”

Her eyes met his, desperate. “But  _ they _ didn’t,” she whispered.

Claude clamped down on his conjoined jolt of fear and curiosity.  _ Priorities Claude, now is not the time! _ “ _ You did, _ and that’s all that matters. And you’ll do it again. Are you really going to let yourself die  _ here? _ Don’t you have things that you want to achieve?”

She grunted in pain, curling in on herself. “You’re right,” she gasped. “I won’t—  _ can’t—  _ die here.”

Claude placed a hand on her back, intending to rub circles. Then she cried out in pain and Claude wrenched back his hand like he had been burned.

“M-my back,” she choked. “S-something is wrong.”

“I’m going to be gentle, but brace yourself.”

He waits for her nod. Then, as carefully as he could, he brushed his fingertips along her back, immediately noticing something wrong. She groaned and whimpered, but didn’t pull back. Claude pushed as hard as he dared (which was not hard at all) along the lumps that were rising an inch off her back.

Two spots, equal in size. Beneath the thin skin were a mass of something bone-like, but it wasn’t her shoulder blade. More like a small plate of ribs. Claude pushed back the nausea as he desperately tried to make some sort of sense out of it all.

With sickening dread, he thought back to the twin nubs of bone that had grown out of his head. His eyes were fixed on the twin lumps on Edelgard’s back. He placed his hand along one and waited.

“Edelgard, I need you to try and relax, then tense. Can you do that?”

With a grunt, her shoulders went limp. Then with a small cry her muscles clenched.

Claude stared at the lump under his hand. A lump that had twitched in time with her other muscles.

Claude licked his lips, his throat dry. “You’re growing, uh… something. I think.”

“Pardon?” Edelgard’s dry quip was accentuated by the raw pain in her voice.

“Something’s growing out of your back. If I had to guess, the pain is from whatever this is trying to break past the skin.”

“S-something? What in the Goddess name does that even mean?!” Edelgard’s voice was painted with fear. “A, a creature? Growing out of me?”

“No no no, not like that!” Claude waved a hand in front of him, the other he ran through his hair, wincing as he nudged his still tender horns. “Like, a body part! Look, here—”

He took her hand and like Dimitri earlier, he shoved her hand into his curls. He winced as her hand wrapped around one horn. Her face split into shock.

“And no, that isn’t a weird birth defect. Grew out of my head a few hours ago.”

“Oh.” She whispered. 

Then she threw back her head and howled, her hands scrabbling at her back.

She writhed along the floor, back arching and bucking as she tried to squirm out of her own skin. She screamed again and again.   


Claude cursed as Edelgard seized on the stone floor. He grabbed her, whispering an apology as he forced her on top of him, his own arms trapping hers as he hugged around her waist. She screamed and cried into his chest, writhing.

He hadn’t anticipated that she’d be stronger than him, which he learned as she yanked her arms free of his.

Anticipating her quick wiggle to the floor, he wrapped his hands around hers in a last desperate bid to keep her from smashing her skull against the floor. Because that  _ could _ kill her, more than whatever was sprouting from her back.

She squeezed back, causing him to wheeze as he felt the delicate bones in his hands creak. Thankfully, her hands moved upwards to grip at his arms, which resulted in bruises instead of broken bones.

She wailed into his chest, and absently Claude wondered if this was what Dimitri had to go through with him. Alone and afraid as someone fell apart right in front of him.

Then she tenses straight as a plank of wood, her screams going quiet. He put his hands on the back of her waist to steady her, still worried she would bash her skull on the ground if he let go. 

Her eyes wide, her mouth still open in a silent scream. Instead there is a sort of wet tearing sound. It is deafening in the silence, the tear followed by the meaty squelch.

Edelgard goes limp, passed out proper. Finally.

There is something warm and wet pouring onto Claude’s hands. He’s frozen as the liquid pours past his fingertips and then  _ drip drip drips _ onto the floor.

_ That’s a lot of blood, _ he can’t help but note.

He feels lightheaded, like he can’t get enough air.

Oh, he’s hyperventilating. That makes sense.

He takes a moment to calm himself. Two moments. He breathes deep and lets out.

Edelgard is bleeding. He has no time for panic.

It’s easy to sacrifice his yellow cape for bandages. It was too small to work for a blanket anyways. It was made out of silk too, which was good material for bandages.

His hands only barely shake as he gathers the two small limbs poking out of Edelgard’s shoulders. His damned curiosity demands he look at them, figure out what they are. Thin stick-like masses of red. Thumbing away a window of blood (or as much as he can) he peers at the thing beneath. Difficult to see in the dim lighting, but he could only assume the new appendages were the same flesh as the rest of her. Pale but not bone white.

His thoughts went back to the small nubs poking out of his own head. This was… very different.

He spread the limb. It had fingers like a hand, yet was shaped nothing like a hand. Yet the bones connected and had an elbow joint. Some form of odd shoulder hand…?

He let go of the new appendage and watched in morbid fascination as it naturally curled up along Edelgard’s back. Together, the two new growths looked like…

Wings. He was an idiot, they were unfeathered wings.

He felt hysterical laughter bubble past his lips.

He wasted no more time, wrapping strips of his cloak around her. It wasn’t perfect by any means, especially since the wound was tricky to bandage, but the bleeding finally stopped after a small yet agonizing eternity.

Of course, his hands were now caked in blood. And there was blood all over the floor. On the bright side, Dimitri’s cloak managed to stay outside the splatter-zone.

He cleaned his hands as best he could on the remaining strips of his cloak, mopping up as much as he could. Then, with the cold settling into his bones now that the crisis was over, he curled up with Edelgard and wrapped them both in Dimitri’s cloak.

He was exhausted, but couldn’t find it in himself to sleep. In the silence, the  _ damned silence, _ all he could hear was echo’s of Edelgard’s screams or the wet tearing sound that her skin had made as it had been torn apart.

“... Since my story was interrupted earlier, let me start over. Once upon a time…”

He pretends his voice doesn't shake.

* * *

Edelgard hurt.

She was sore in places she didn’t even know existed. Every muscle hurt.

Then she noticed the rise and fall of the warm surface she was curled up on. Breathing.

With a gasp, she tried to fling herself away from whatever had her. The cold stone beneath her sent a bolt of cold through her.

“Woah, calm down! It’s fine, you’re fine!”

Edelgard blushed as she looked at wide-eyed Claude, his hands splayed in front of him like he was trying to calm down a wild animal. She took a steady breath and regained her practiced poise. Then her eyes wandered to the cell, and she remembered, and her facade crumbled.

“My back…” she whispered, noting with awe that, though sore, it no longer hurt.

“Yeah, you had me pretty scared for a bit there. But hey, you pulled through, just like I knew you would.”

She reached back, but her arms couldn’t reach as high as she needed. She felt muscles twitch along her back, muscles that weren’t where she expected them to be. It felt surreal, her mind trying to understand what the feeling was. She turned her head, but was unable to crane her neck far enough to see anything other than the red silk tied around her back.

She turned an annoyed eye to Claude. “Did you cut up my cloak?”

Claude snorted, and pointed down to the small red strip of cloth, still in once piece. It was along the ground, providing a thin layer of protection from the stone. On top of it was a sleeping Dimitri. She cursed herself for not noticing him. How out of it was she?

His sleep seemed peaceful, unlike Claude’s had. She wondered if she had slept like that, or tossed and turned in pain like Claude.

“What, not even a thank you? That was my cloak I used for bandages you know. Finest silk, and all that.”

Edelgard frowned, and looked back at the brownish-red fabric. The  _ bloodied _ fabric. “Oh. Thank you, Claude.” Her eyes returned to Dimitri’s slumbering form. “Is he… alright?”

Claude shrugged. “So far.” He grimaced. “If it’s anything like you or I, however, he won’t stay that way forever.”

Edelgard swallowed thickly, her mind going back to previous events. Her eyes drifted to Claude, to the spot where those sprigs of bone had sprouted beneath his hair. In fact, as she squinted, she could see the tips poking up just barely past his hair. If she hadn’t been looking for them, she’d never have noticed.

“Well, I can’t see what’s on my back, so Claude…” She hesitated, not sure how to ask the question.  _ What _ came out of her back? She could feel… something.

“Wings,” was his simple reply, as though he was commenting on the weather rather than the unnatural limbs that twitched under her command.

Shivering, she swallowed her pride and lay beside the other two boys. Claude, however, wasn’t satisfied with only that. He patted Dimitri’s chest as though he were a seat Claude was inviting her to. “It’s warmer like this. C’mon, don’t tell me you’re too prideful now?”

She huffed, but had to admit that laying beside Dimitri was only warming a small part of her. She,  _ ugh,  _ ‘snuggled’ closer, resting on Dimitri’s chest beside Claude. It was a squeeze, made only tighter as Dimitri, despite still being asleep, trapped her with a single arm. She glared at Claude, also caught in Dimitri’s hug, looking far too smug.

“Well, it’s cozy,” he gave a toothy grin, wiggling his eyebrows.

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. Yet she couldn't find anything but truth in Claude’s words. Against her will, she found herself melting into the embrace. Then, before she realized, she was already asleep.  
  


* * *

Edelgard awoke when Dimitri’s grip on her grew tight, nearing painfully so. She wheezed, hearing Claude do the same.

“We need to wake him up,” she grit through her teeth.

Claude nodded. Sensible people might do their best to shake someone awake or loudly call their name. Claude proved he wasn’t a sensible person when his first option was to bite down on the arm holding him tight.

Yet his unorthodox method worked, as Dimitri woke with a gasp and arms immediately letting up.

“Mornin’ big guy. Having a bit of a nightmare?”

Dimitri groaned. “...Claude?” His eyes peered down at the two of them. “...Edelgard?” His eyebrows rose to meet his hairline, eyes flickering between the two of them.

She glared. “It is of utmost important to keep a warm body temperature. Should one of us get sick, it will surely spell their death.”

Dimitri only blinked at her. “Oh. Uh, yes, you’re correct.”

“How do you feel?” She asked.

Dimitri winced. “My jaw hurts. Otherwise not so bad.”

Edelgard exchanged a glance with Claude. What, would he grow boar tusks?

“Let us know if your pain gets any worse buddy.” Claude says patting him.

“R-right,” Dimitri says as his cheeks darken. “How are the two of you doing?”

“A lot better, barely any pain at all now,” Claude said.

Edelgard nodded. “I’m very sore, but otherwise feel fine.”

Dimitri sighed, tension relaxing. “That’s very good. I was worried, for both of you.”

“We aren’t out of the woods yet.” Edelgard hates herself for what she was about to reveal. “I doubt this will be all they do. The one who has us captured.”

Claude tensed beside her. “Are you willing to tell us more, now?”

Dimitri looked between the two of them, confusion along his brow.

“I suppose I must.” She takes a deep breath, steeling herself. She may not be that same little girl she once was, but the hurt was still there. No matter how far she buries it. “As you should both know, out of my ten siblings, I am the only one left living. The rest died of various sickness or unfortunate accidents.” She spits the last sentence with the vitriol the lie deserves.

She steals a moment to glance at the others. Dimitri’s face was grim, but he’d known this for years. Claude’s face is shocked, however. Clearly he hadn’t known, which was interesting. It more or less confirmed he hadn’t grown up in Fódland, as she had never met another noble that hadn’t known about her ‘cursed’ lineage.

“The truth is, we were all used as test subjects. I was the only one to survive.”

Dimitri sucked in a deep breath, his revelation only accented by the fact that she could feel his shock physically. 

“And that’s why you recognized the man in the mask,” Claude finishes for her.

She nods. “Yes. People with those masks were the ones who tortured my siblings and I.”

“Why… why does no one know?” Dimitri asked.

Edelgard can’t stop the bitter laugh that bubbles forth. “Oh, you think no one knows? My father was powerless to stop them. They’re a powerful group. Older than all of Fódland. They are not the sort that can simply be ‘dealt’ with.”

“I’ll kill them. I’ll kill every last one of them,” Dimitri growls into the darkness.

“Woah buddy, the sentiment is mutual, but at the moment we can’t even escape  _ one, _ let alone them all.”

“They aren’t—” she pauses, not sure how she can phrase her knowledge without implicating herself. “I don’t think this one is a part of the group. Their experimentations stopped years ago.”

“That’s an interesting thing to be confident on. How could you possibly know they stopped with you?”

Claude’s words are like a dagger to her ribs. It’s with a long practiced ease that she keeps the guilt of knowing that they  _ hadn’t  _ stopped from showing on her face. “Perhaps I can’t say for certain, but these experiments aren’t… these are different.”

“And what were they before?”

“Claude! You can’t ask that!” Dimitri chided.

“I had no physical change from the experiments in the past— ah, well, I suppose that isn’t entirely correct…” She sighs, hating how much of her secrets are spilling from her lips. “My hair turned white, but that was all. It was merely a side effect, not… whatever this is.” She gestured to her back.

“I had wondered why your hair was, well…” Dimitri says, an infuriatingly sad look on his face.

“It doesn’t matter anymore,” the practiced words fall from her lips. Words she reserved for her father or Hubert. 

“Considering our situation, it certainly seems relevant,” Claude muses.

She huffs in frustration. “This madman that has us captured is working alone, I am certain. A former member, if I had to guess. It does not matter anyways, for whether he works alone or with the entire group, we are still trapped nonetheless.”

Dimitri nods. “True enough.”

The gleam in Claude’s eyes tell her he isn’t satisfied, but will let it go for now. She’s really beginning to hate him.

“So we’ve got a madman that may or may not be working on his own, but definitely used to be part of a powerful shadowy bird cult that has a kink for experimenting on kids. Does that sound about right?”

Edelgard resists the urge to roll her eyes. “More or less.”

“What are their goals, then? World domination? Political power? Knowledge? I’m guessing it’s knowledge, what with all the experimenting.”

Edelgard considers her words carefully. “Mostly the first two, with an undertone of revenge against some ancient enemy. Revenge, whatever it takes.”

“These… these cultists cannot stand. I’ll kill them for what they did to you, El.”

Edelgard might have been touched if that sediment didn’t go against her plans.

“Hey, what about what they did to me?” Claude pipes up, old smirk playing on his lips.

“What? Oh, of course Claude, I won’t rest until they are all de— ow!” Dimitri jerked, his hand reaching up to his mouth.

The levity falls from Claude’s face. “Round three,” he mutters, casting a glance towards her.

“Nothing to worry about, I just— oh.” Blood gushed from Dimitri’s mouth. He turned his head and spit at the ground. “I merely bit my tongue…”

“That’s a lotta blood for biting your tongue,” Claude says, scooting closer to Dimitri’s face. “Say ‘ah’!”

Dimitri rolls his eyes but opens his mouth regardless. Edelgard doesn’t need to be as close as Claude is to see the abnormality: Dimitri’s teeth have grown  _ sharp. _

“Horns for me, wings for Edelgard, and teeth for Dimitri. What kind of experiments is this dastard trying to pull off?”

Dimitri taps his teeth with his fingers, eyes widening. Then, he frowns at Claude. “Claude, weren’t your horns hidden in your hair earlier?”

Claude gives a confused look. “Yes? They’re short enough to hide.” His hand reaches up to his head, and Edelgard feels a pit open in her stomach. Because she remembered earlier how only the barest tip had poked above his hair. Now, the bone was at least a solid inch above his hair.

Claude’s face pales as he finds the nubs on his head. “Oh. They’re growing,” he whispers.

“Antlers,” she realizes. “Those are antlers.”

Dimitri nods. “Yes, it seems they are.”

Edelgard knows what she must do. She takes the crusty strips of silk still around her back and pulls them undone. She turns to bare her back. “Any change? Is it still bleeding?”

There’s a moment of silence that has her on edge. “No bleeding that I can see,” Dimitri says.

She hears Claude audibly swallow. “Well. You have feathers now. It was just skin when they came out.”

She reaches a hand behind her, but still can’t reach. Instead, the new muscles in her back twitch and she thwacks Claude in the face with her wing.

“Ow! Rude!” Claude cries, clearly unhurt.

She rolls her eyes. “My apologies.” She frowns in concentration. “They are… difficult to move.” After a few more flail-induced twacks, she manages to get the small wings within her line of sight. Stretched out, they are no longer than a foot each. Yet black feathers spread from her back and she finds herself unable to truly believe her eyes.

Things grow quiet after that. A tray of food is delivered and they eat, just as before. Though uneasy, they all manage to fall asleep.

Only to wake when she feels something thin, long, and snake-like.

Edelgard reacts without thinking, grabbing at the snake, grip tight intending to choke the creature.

Instead Dimitri gasps and jerks, waking Claude as well.

At this point, Edelgard realizes that if what she is holding _is_ a snake, it’s not a normal snake. For one, it’s warm.

Her dread spikes, envisioning that she has grabbed something entirely inappropriate. She feels her cheeks grow warm. However, as she squeezes whatever she holds, she notices it’s furry.

She really,  _ really  _ hopes she isn’t holding Dimitri’s dick. For many and multiple reasons.

Yet as she squeezes Dimitri grunts in pain.

“Dimitri?”

“Edelgard? A-apologies. I am in some pain, I did not mean to wake you.”

“Dimitri, what am I holding?”

“What?” Dimitri squinted in the dim lighting. The thing she held in her hand twitched. “I’m not sure?”

“Is that thing alive?” Claude asked, peering at it.

“Well it’s twitching like it is…” Dimitri adds. She pinches it again, and Dimitri gives a surprised cry of pain. “W-what?!”

Claude is the first to figure it out, snapping his fingers. “Oh, would you look at that! You’ve got a tail, Dimitri.”

“Huh?!”

“Oh thank the Goddess, it’s only a tail,” Edelgard lets the little fluff of a tail go.

“What did you think it was?” Claude,  _ of course,  _ asked.

“Clearly I didn’t know, thus why I asked.”

“You sounded  _ pretty _ relieved to have thought it was nothing.”

“Well, it wasn’t a snake, that was a relief.”

“I bet you thought it was his —” 

“I have a tail?!”

“Yes, keep up big guy.” Claude snuggled back into Dimitri’s chest like he belonged there. “Now if you don’t mind, I was in the middle of something.”

“I apologize for hurting your tail, Dimitri,” Edelgard said as she followed Claude’s example. She was still exhausted from her earlier experiences.

As she drifted off, she heard Dimitri huff. “A tail…”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAAA I GOT FANART CHECK IT OUT:  
https://breezy-cheezy.tumblr.com/post/188162353758/inktober-day-5-since-im-a-theme-behind-its  
IT'S SO GOOD
> 
> Ahem. Thank you to everyone who gave me kudos and comments! I'm so happy to see the support for this lovely little platonic pairing.

Morning came, or whatever approximate they had of it. Morning just meant that sleep was over. Other than the trays of food, there was no way to tell time.

When they woke, it was still cold. Despite this, they mutually agree that it would be good to stretch their legs even in the small quarters. 

It didn’t take long to notice the expected changes. Claude’s antlers had grown taller. Edelgard’s wings stretched wider. Dimitri’s tail swished along the ground.

Their morning was shattered as the door swung open. All three tensed and shied away from the blinding light.

The beak-masked man stepped into the room.

Dimitri growled, an _ actual growl _ and not metaphorical. He was so startled that the growl cut short.

“I wouldn’t do anything foolish,” the man tsked, wagging a finger. His mask faced Dimitri, but his words were for them all. “Attack me, and I will return my injuries threefold, to all three of you. Kill me, and you three shall starve to death in this cell. Understood?” The man had the gall to sound cheerful. “Good.” 

The man examined the three of them.

“Why are you doing this?” Claude cautiously asked.

“Well, when life drops three crest-bearing brats on one’s doorstep, one does not ignore them!” the man laughed. “Indeed, it was as though divine providence! If I believed in such things. Hmm, yes, very good progress…” the man praised, tapping at Claude’s antlers.

Dimitri growled again. “Don’t touch him.”

Having finished, the man turned to Dimitri. “Hm, yes… I wonder, is your protectiveness part of yourself, or is that new? Hmm… so many tests to run.”

He looked over the three once more. “Yet so little time.” He snapped a finger, the two guards at the door attending him. He pointed. “The Riegan boy.”

If he felt fear, Claude refused to show it. He was quickly taken away.

* * *

Dimitri hated this situation.

He hated the masked man. He hated these experiments. He hated that El had been experimented on all those years ago, and that he’d never known.

He hated the silence.

Silence was when Glenn would berate him for not being strong enough. Silence was when his father would sigh in disappointment. Silence was when his ghosts begged for blood.

And yet… within this cold cell, he couldn’t hear them. Not even a whisper. At first it had been suspicious. Then a guilty relief. Now it unnerved him.

It was the same with his never-ending nightmares. Perhaps it was too early to tell, but when he found himself drifting off to sleep, the constant reminder of his past no longer plagued him. His sleep had been entirely dreamless so far. Perhaps it had been from the sedatives he was given. Perhaps he had just been too worn out from his changes. Perhaps it was something else entirely, maybe the mystical barrier that surrounded their cell? Perhaps next time he slept, he would wake as he always did with fear biting at the tip of his lips.

He couldn’t help but wonder if the absence of his nightmares and the absence of the ghosts were connected.

However, though he couldn’t hear them, he knew his ghosts were still around. Still watching. They still wanted blood. He did too. These evil men, the one this masked dastard that held them captured belonged to… he wanted them dead.

He couldn’t help but wonder. He knew the Tragedy of Duscur was not as it seemed and that there were others behind the slaughter. He knew the people of Duscur had been framed. To hear El speak of a shadowy yet powerful organization, one that focused on political domination? He couldn’t help but think the two might be connected.

Just the thought of a _ possibility _ made his blood boil.

But he couldn’t do anything at the moment. Caged like the animal he was. His thoughts kept circling over and over, doing nothing but growing his aimless rage.

“What are you doing?” El’s sharp tongue snapped his attention back to the present.

He frowned, glancing down at his tail slamming back and forth. He winced as he realized he had no conscious control over the limb. How perfect, another part of himself that told the world his emotions.

El sighed and sat down beside him. She had been pacing, which was the only way to stay warm aside from sharing body heat. Her wings made a few failed attempts to properly fold up along her back before she gave up, letting them flop awkwardly along the floor. “I’m worried about Claude too.”

Dimitri felt a stab of guilt at the fact that it wasn’t Claude’s absence that was upsetting him. He was a horrible person, and an even worse friend.

Were they friends? Before this whole ordeal, he would have known the answer to be negative. But after spending time together in this hellish torture ring, he hoped the answer was positive. He felt like scum for wishing for something so selfish.

He yelped as El tugged on his tail. “What was that for?”

“You’re off in your own head, and clearly your head is no fun place to be.”

“I’m just… worried. About Claude. Like you.”

El audibly groaned, putting her head in her hands. “Goddess, you’re just as bad at lying as ever. Have you learned nothing of hiding your intentions over the years?”

He flushed, his tail curling close to his body. He hung his head. “What do you want, El.” He winced as the old nickname fell from his lips, but he couldn’t take it back now.

She huffed, but didn’t chastise him. It gave him a small sliver of hope that maybe they could be friends again. “I’m cold, I’m sore, I want the hell out of here, and I’m extremely bored.”

Dimitri couldn’t help but crack a smile at that. “That’s fair. I…” He averted his eyes, feeling self conscious. “I’m also… cold. Not very sore, at least. I want out of here as well. More than anything though, I’m angry.” His tail swished, causing him another bolt of frustration. “I want to make these people pay.” His tail swished again. “I’m also rather bored too.”

He felt his anger fade a little at the small tired smile El gave him. “Well, as two bored people, what should we do?”

Dimitri thought about the question. He wanted something to distract him from… everything, really. His thoughts went back to when he was holding Claude, just after El had been taken. Claude had been so tired, but he had refused to go back to sleep. A part of Dimitri wanted to think Claude had stayed awake for him, but Claude didn’t seem like the sort to be so… kind. Not without a motive, at least. Still, he hoped.

The memory of Claude’s half-feverish tale about a white camel separated from its family stuck in his mind. Halfway through the tale, Claude had slipped into what Dimitri had first feared was utter nonsense, but after a time realized to be a different language. There had been something soothing and— dare he say— beautiful about the rhythmic words he wove, seeping into something Dimitri wouldn’t hesitate to call poetry. _ If only he had understood the words… _

But the idea itself had merit. Dimitri cleared his throat, feeling oddly nervous. “Earlier, Claude suggested sharing stories as a way to pass the time. We could do that?”

“Ah, he did the same for me as well, I think. I woke up to him narrating some nonsense about a white camel… I was confused, but what little I heard of the story sounded interesting.”

Dimitri gave a small chuckle at that. “He told the very same story to me. He was too feverish to finish, however. I ended up telling him the story of the Sword of Kyphon, though he fell asleep rather quickly.”

“The Sword of Kyphon? A rather boring choice, given that every child in Fódland knows it.”

Dimitri shook his head. “I’m aware, it’s one of the few I could remember for that very reason. Yet he told me he had never heard of it, and I don’t think he was lying.”

“Well, I suppose being foreign to Fódland, he wouldn’t know it.”

“Hm, yes he— wait, a foreigner?” 

El gave him a look he was very familiar with. The ‘I-know-you’re-smarter-than-this-you-idiot’ look. She very carefully drew out her syllables, as though she were talking to a child. “Yes. He was clearly not born here.”

“Well, I had my guesses, but I didn’t want to assume…”

“Grandson of Duke Riegan who appears out of nowhere, an heir that _ no one _ knew about? That wouldn’t be possible without outside circumstances. That says nothing about his ‘tanned’ skin, nor the gaps of knowledge he has. Though I can't say with certainty where he comes from, I have a few guesses.”

“I suppose when you put it that way…”

El huffed a chuckle, then fell silent for a moment. “You really haven’t changed at all, have you?” Her voice is quiet.

Dimitri clenched his fist. “I wish that were true…” he confesses. He looks down at his palm. They were clean, but they didn’t feel it. “Edelgard… El. I need to ask you something.” 

She is silent as he gathers his words. “You know of the Tragedy of Duscur.” It wasn’t a question. Everyone knew of the Tragedy. “The tragedy, it was not caused by the people of Duscur. I was there, I know this to be true. The people of Duscur were framed.”

He raises his eyes from his hands to meet her eyes. He finds no surprise in her face. His gut twists at the possible implications. Yet he sees no guilt. He sees conflict in her eyes, a battle she is fighting within herself. But no guilt.

“Please. I must know… these dark people, the one that is experimenting on us— the ones that experimented on _ you— _were they… do you know if they were involved?”

She hesitates, turning her head away from him. “Why should I tell you anything, if there is anything I know at all?”

Dimitri holds back the angry words threatening to crawl from his throat. He cannot control the lashing of his tail. “You know something.” His words turn into a growl at the end of his sentence. This only spikes his rage further— these _ changes _ that dastard had caused…

“I know many things Dimitri.” She meets his eyes unflinching. “Why should I tell you any of them?”

He hisses, hunching his shoulders and rises to tower above her, all without standing up. He couldn’t help but notice how tiny she truly was compared to him. “I need to know, I _ need _ to avenge them!” He shouts the last words, standing to loom over her.

She is not so easily intimidated. “Revenge? That’s what you want? Sit _ down _ Dimitri. You think you are the only one with obligations to the dead?”

Her words punch Dimitri like an icy blow to the gut. His building rage drains as quickly as it had spiked. He sat back down. “Oh. Your siblings?”

She nodded. “For them, and others like us. I will forge a world where no one will ever be used because of their cr—” She cut herself off.

“Their what?” He asks, desperate to understand.

She looks him over, her eyes judging his very soul. She must have found him wanting, for she shook her head. “Perhaps I will tell you another time. I don’t wish to speak of this anymore.”

Dimitri held his tongue, but only just. He _ needed _ the answers that he was certain El had. But she found him either unworthy or untrustworthy. He pushed down his anger. There were no ghosts crying for blood, nothing but his own mind. It was easier, he found; without their constant demands he could think clearer. He could be patient, he would show El he could be trusted.

* * *

Claude woke with a groan.

“Oh, he’s awake,” Edelgard’s voice boomed from his side.

“That was quick,” Dimitri replied equally loud.

“Nng, don’t shout, I’m up…”

“Shout?” Dimitri shouted.

Claude clamped his hands around his ears.

“Oh, I wouldn’t do that if I were you…” Edelgard’s amused voice filtered through the hands he held over his ears. His… fuzzy… ears? 

“Gah!” He shouted, pulling his hands away. He stared down at his hands as though they held any answers at all. He felt his ear twitch. His ear, which felt larger than it should. Carefully, slowly, he brought his hand back to his ear.

Yup, large fuzzy ears.

“I have deer ears, don’t I.”

“Indeed.”

“Ahhh damn it all.” Claude rested his face on Dimitri’s chest. “Why…”

“I think they’re rather fetching,” Edelgard teased.

“Yes, I would go so far as to classify them as adorable,” Dimitri added.

His cheeks burned. “Alright, any other damage?”

“Only superficial changes so far.”

“Ugh, hit me all at once. What’s the news, doc?”

“Welcome to the tail club?” Dimitri’s own tail wiggled from where it lazily laid along the ground.

Reaching down, Claude groaned as he realized that yes, in fact, there was a bushy tail sticking out of his pants. “This is so weird.”

“You also have little white spots along your face. Like freckles.” Edelgard ran a finger from the top of his cheekbone to his nose. “I’d hand you a mirror, but you’ll have to do without.” 

Claude scrunched his face. “Freckles? What does that have to do with… anything?”

Dimitri hummed. “If I had to guess, they look a great deal like white spots on a fawn. Though those are along the back, not the face…”

Claude frowned. “I’m not a fawn. Or, a kid, I mean. I’m not a kid.”

“Sure you’re not,” Dimitri patted his head, like he was a kid.

“Just shut up and give me warmth.”

…

...

“... alright, I’m bored.”

“Claude, it hasn’t been more than a few minutes.”

“Yep, and I’m bored already. How were you guys entertaining yourselves while I was gone?”

There was an awkward silence.

“... Welp I walked right into that one. A bored man and woman. You guys fucked, huh.”

Claude was dumped onto the cold, hard, unforgiving, freezing, very very cold ground as Dimitri stood up. “Why would you even think that?!” Dimitri all but yelled, his face bright red.

“Ow, ow, I’m sorry, my ears are _ super _ sensitive right now I’m sorry!”

“Oh, sorry Claude,” Dimitri whispered.

“Don’t apologize, he deserved it,” Edelgard, cruel woman she was, said at a painfully loud volume.

Claude clutched his (too big, too strange) ears and pouted at Edelgard. She merely rolled her eyes at him.

Dimitri settled back down, leaning against the wall with his legs criss-crossed. Claude happily retook his place on top of Dimitri's lap, leaning against the other boy's chest, resting his head against Dimitri’s shoulder and tucking his knees in. Edelgard then retook her place atop him, settling nicely in the V between his knees and chest, resting her head on Dimitri’s other shoulder. She draped Dimitri's cape back over them.

This was the position they had taken to sharing when actively awake. When they settled down to sleep, Dimitri would lay flat and let the other two lay atop his chest. He and Edelgard really had to snuggle in close if they were both able to fit, but thankfully Edelgard had finally seemed to realize pride had no place while they were locked away. Claude wasn't sure if he should find so much comfort in the way Dimitri could wrap his arms around both Claude and Edelgard so snugly. Claude wasn't a small person by any stretch, and Dimitri was no Raphael when it came to size. But when it came down to it, Edelgard was tiny and Claude was small compared to Dimitri. It was odd, considering usually the size difference would cause no small amount of anxiety and distrust from him. But now it sparked the opposite.

Claude smirked at Dimitri's still bright red face. The other boy was even slightly warmer now.

“To answer your question, Claude, we attempted to share stories.”

“Dimitri, however, knows very few stories.”

“Hey! Well… she isn’t wrong. But that was still rude.”

Claude hummed. “You told me that one story, the Sword one. Sorry I fell asleep part way through.”

Dimitri smiled. “It’s fine, you needed to rest anyways. Besides, I’m not much of a story teller. You were far better than me, half-fevered as you were. I only got the first half of your story.”

“Mm, the white camel sounded interesting, from the small tidbits I heard,” Edelgard added.

Claude chuckled, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. “High praise. I can’t say I really want to tell it a fourth time though, so how about another?”

“A fourth?”

“I told it to Her Highness twice.”

“Hm, lucky,” Dimitri said without a hint of sarcasm. Claude couldn’t help the small well of fondness he felt for the other teen.

“Anyways I know plenty of stories. Probably plenty you’ve never heard.” He leaned forward with a cocky grin.

Edelgard scoffed. “Growing up there were not many opportunities to learn Almyran tales, so I’m sure you’re correct.”

“Yes, you— uh, wait, backup. What did you say?” Claude couldn’t help the way his body tensed up, fear shooting down his spine. Which was a sure tell for the two bodies he was pressed up against. 

Surely he had misheard.

“You are Almyran, at least in part, yes?” She spoke casually, as though commenting on flavor of tea. As though she hadn’t just casually dropped his most vital secret into the conversation.

“If not Almyra, somewhere other than Fódland, right?” Dimitri chimed in.

He took a deep breath, in and out. Very deliberately kept his breathing even. “You two have been talking behind my back.” He didn’t mean for the venom to seep into his words, but the flavor of betrayal ran down his throat. His mood only worsened as he felt his ears droop low in what he knew in a buck would be a threatening pose. He had no control over the damned things.

Dimitri reared his head back in alarm. Edelgard just regarded him with her usual snake eyes.

“Claude, we didn’t mean to offend— I swear it to you.”

He huffed a bitter laugh. “Well, I suppose I’ve got no one to blame but myself, huh? So, why don’t you two tell me what tipped you off.” He pasted a smile onto his lips. He knew it was pointless, considering his ears were still low.

“Circumstance. Had you been born in Fódland, someone would have heard of you,” Edelgard spoke with a degree of confidence that sent a shiver through him. “There are eyes everywhere. Even if you were raised on a farm in the mountains— it would have been known. Yet not even the greatest spy networks of Enbarr had the slightest inkling of your existence.”

“Yeesh, way to make a man paranoid…”

“My observations were not so well informed as Edelgard’s. When you were telling me your story, about halfway through you slipped into a different language. Clearly one you had been born into, with how naturally it flowed from your lips.”

Claude sighed. At least Dimitri had stumbled into it in a more… innocent manner. Still, it burned him to know his secret was out. To the heirs of the Kingdom and Empire, no less. 

At least they didn’t know he was the prince.

“You aren’t exactly subtle, Claude. But that’s the idea, isn’t it? That the heir of house Riegan could be Almyran, could be related to the greatest outside threat to all of the Alliance? It’s beyond ridiculous to imagine.”

He grit his teeth and looked away. “That _ was _ the idea, yeah. Well, there you have it. I’m half Almyran. Happy?”

Dimitri gave him a confused frown. “Yes? I’ve never been to Almyra. Could you tell me about it? Fódland is often a rather insular place. I would expect your culture is why you think so creatively compared to the nobles around you.”

“Dimitri, I believe that is _ exactly _ why he wasn’t keen on the knowledge being known. You should know well how easily Fódland can turn Xenophobic.”

Dimitri winced. “Yes, you are correct. My apologies. Ah, is that why you often refer to yourself as an outsider, Claude? Is Fódland… unwelcoming?”

Claude sighed. “You’re too damned earnest Dimitri, you’re like a puppy. I just can’t get mad at you.”

“...A puppy?” Dimitri frowned, clearly in disagreement.

“He’s not wrong.”

“Sorry, should I say a cutesie widdle kitten?” Claude poked at Dimitri’s tail.

“Somehow I don’t think you’re sorry at all.”

Claude smiled, then let it fall from his face. “So you wanna know about Almyra, huh? It’s…” He thought about the land of his birth. The geography, the culture, the people. “It’s actually not that different.”

He savored the small joy of watching a flash of surprised interest slide across Edelgard’s face.

“In Fódland, people think of Almyrans as savages, uncivilized. In Almyra, they think of the Fódlandi people as cowards and backwards thinking. Not so different.”

Edelgard snorted. “Humans are humans, no matter where they are from.” Her tone was bitter.

“We’re all humans,” Claude agreed, his tone hopeful and wistful.

He didn’t notice Edelgard pause to stare at him in surprise.

“My retainer, Dedue, he is from Duscur. Due to… ‘racial biases’ he is often scorned and distrusted.” He lowered his gaze, his fist clenching. “It shouldn’t be that way. Yet I find myself powerless to change anything.”

Claude gave Dimitri a considering eye. “What if it could be changed?”

Dimitri shook his head. “An impossible goal. I’m not so naive as to think people can change, not like that.”

Claude’s smile remained fixed as disappointed flooded through him. “Yeah, only a fool would try…”

“... If any fool were to succeed, it would be you Claude,” Edelgard said.

Genuine shock rocked Claude’s expression. “Hah, can’t hide anything from you, can I?”

“Wait, Claude, you really think…?” Dimitri asked.

“It won’t happen if no one tries,” Claude said as flippantly as he could manage.

“If anyone could bring Fódland and Almyra together, it would be you Claude.” Dimitri smiled.

Claude laughed. “Oh no, you’re looking too small. For I truly am a naive fool. Almyra, Duscur, Bridged, Dagda, Sreng— all of it.”

Edelgard regarded him with confusion. “You can’t tell me you plan to conquer all those places?!”

“No, of course not. Conquering is not a very good way to win the favor of the people whose homes you’ve sacked.”

“Yet won’t their favor of you improve should you bring them fortune through your nation? Give them a better life through your ways, and they will forgive that you have taken their homes.” Dimitri says with the sureness of someone who has read words from a book.

“Can’t replace dead loved ones, Dimitri.”

“Ah. I… suppose you are correct.”

Despite the philosophical nature of the conversation, they continued the topic for some time. Though they all had differing opinions all across the board, none of their disagreements were anything to go beyond a playful argument.

More than that, Claude couldn’t help the sweet feelings that bubbled in his chest as he spent more and more time with the two nobles. It made him afraid. Feelings he had discarded as being too dangerous were creeping their way back into his heart. Friendship, companionship. A fledgling trust, one built on a shaky foundation and surrounded by pitraps. No matter how much he told himself not to let his guard down, he continued to find Dimitri and Edelgard further and further in his heart.

There weren’t many people he could sleep soundly around. But as he huddled beside Dimitri and Edelgard, there was no one else he trusted more to watch his back.

It made the fear on Edelgard’s face all the more sour hours later when she was taken away.

* * *

Much like Claude, Edelgard returned without too many alterations.

“El, please do not be alarmed. It appears your ears are missing.”

Strike that.

“I can hear you just fine Dimitri.” She did not, however, brave a hand to touch her ears.

Claude peered closer. “He’s right, just feathers. No ear.”

Edelgard fixed him with one of her usual glares, one Claude was quickly growing an immunity to.

She huffed, raising a hand to investigate. Her face twisted as she confirmed that there was, in fact, no noticeable ear.

Where her ears once were now lay a patch of feathers. A few long feathers gave a shape reminiscent of what was once her ears, in a vague sense. At least the feathers covered what would otherwise look like an ugly hole in the side of her head.

“Since my ears got bigger, and Edelgard’s disappeared, does that mean I stole Edelgard’s ears?”

Dimitri smacked his face as he sighed with exasperation. “Considering you went first, no Claude.”

“Don’t be such a buzz kill, buddy. There’s this new invention an old man like you must not know about: they’re call jokes…”

In response, Dimitri flicked one of Claude’s ears.

After a few hours, Claude noticed Edelgard scratching at her arms. Constantly.

“Okay, I’m officially annoyed. Roll back your sleeves, Edel.”

“Edel?” Edelgard regarded Claude with disdain. “Really?”

“Yup. Anyways, sleeves now, chop chop.”

She huffed. “Fine.” Black feathers spilled from her sleeve. “Oh.”

Feathers covered the entire length of her forearm, a handful of thinner feathers continuing all the way up to her shoulder.

Claude sneezed as one drifted by his nose.

* * *

“Alright, what happened to me this time?” Dimitri muttered as his eyes peeled open. The pattern of being taken, knocked out, and waking to an unknown change was really grating on him.

“It’s really impawsafur to tell you.”

Dimitri blinked. “Im… impawsafur?”

“I’ll tell you later, I can’t tell you meow.”

“What?”

Dimitri was saved by further puns as Edelgard smacked Claude.

_ FURther. Damn Claude. _

“Welcome to the ear club!” Claude piped.

Gut churning with dread, he reached for his ears. Instead, he found smooth skin.

“Higher up,” Edelgard said.

There, at the top of his head, he found two fuzzy round ears. “Oh.”

“You’ve also gotten a reverse haircut. Check your neck.”

Grimacing, Dimitri realized what Claude meant. He had a mane. Blond hair— fur— ringed around his neck.

“It goes down your shirt too,” Claude commented from behind him. He reached a hand down Dimitri’s back, eliciting a startled yelp. “Yep, looks like your brilliant mane goes down your spine too.”

Dimitri wasn’t paying much attention to what Claude was saying anymore. All he could focus on was the heavenly feeling of Claude’s fingers running down his spine. The way his back arched into Claude’s touch was involuntary and irresistible. He didn’t even notice the low moan he gave.

“Dimitri, what are you…” Edelgard murmured, sounding so far away.

“Holy shit,” Claude whispered as he continued to rub his hand up and down Dimitri’s spine.

Dimitri’s head lulled as his eyes slid half closed in bliss. Edelgard yelped as he laid down on top of her, not noticing.

“He’s purring. He’s purring _ really _ loud.” Claude said with a tone of awe.

Edelgard huffed from where she was sandwiched under Dimitri. “Yes, he is. He’s practically vibrating.”

“I wonder…” 

Dimitri whined as Claude’s hand stopped stroking his back. Then his bliss returned twofold as Claude scratched right behind his new ears. He arched into Claude’s touch, rubbing his face into Claude’s hand.

“Wow. I’m not sure whether this is adorable or terrifying.”

Claude stopped scratching his head, which was a true crime. He whined for him to continue.

Claude didn’t continue, however. With a huff, Dimitri grabbed the smaller boy and placed him beside El, arms wrapped protectively around the two as he began to drift off.

“Now look what you’ve done.”

“Hey, at least we’re warm?”

* * *

They were taking turns examining each other.

Claude’s antlers had grown significantly. They now rose half a foot above his head, one of the forks facing forward with the main structure curving backwards.

Edelgard’s wings had grown considerably as well. Her wings could now stretch as far as her arm span, and could produce a decent gust of wind. 

Dimitri, much to his embarrassment, had changed the most. Though his tail and teeth hadn’t grown further, his mane had grown even fluffier. It appeared he’d grown about an inch in height as well. Worst of all was the emotional swings he would feel. He was used to the feeling of bloodlust, but there was a new urge that accompanied it. He felt a raging protectiveness towards both El and Claude.

More embarrassing was when Claude would scratch his mane or ears. Just thinking about it made him blush. He turned into a blissful puddle, somehow Claude seemed to know the exact spot to scratch. It was nice. _ Too nice. _ He couldn’t control himself. But in boring moments where they were lounging with nothing to do but worry about the next rounds of experiments, Dimitri found himself nuzzling into Claude’s neck or hands. He at least had the self control to stop himself from verbally begging for more. 

“If the crazy doc continues his usual patterns,” Claude spoke, “then he’ll be here for me in about an hour.”

Dimitri raised a brow. “Oh, and with what clock are you timing this?”

Claude rolled his eyes. “My internal one?”

El stared at Claude. “You’re serious, aren’t you.”

“You do remember that one of my hobbies is developing poisons, yeah? Time is important for pretty much every aspect of it, and getting the timing wrong can be anything from painful to deadly.”

“So, how long have we been here?” 

“About hm… Four days, give or take a few hours.”

_ Four days? _ Dimitri wasn’t sure if he thought that number should be higher or lower. On one hand, it felt like an eternity had passed since he’d seen sunlight. To think it hadn’t even been a full week…

On the other hand, _ four whole days?! _ Why had they not been rescued yet? The whole of Fódland must be searching for them, surely.

It matched up with the amount of food they had been delivered though. _ Four days... _

One hour, Claude had said. A sick dread sat in his belly, combined with a protective heat. He clutched Claude a bit tighter, something within him screamed how _ right _ it felt to have Claude snuggle closer. At least it wasn’t just him— he could feel Edelgard shifting to press tighter against Claude as well.

It was funny. Four days ago, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d casually touched people. He wore his gauntlets nonstop for a reason. But here he was, Claude burrowed into his chest on one side and El curled up into his other.

He felt dirty for how much he enjoyed the simple touch. Just basking in it. When had been the last time someone regularly touched him? Before Duscur, surely. 

It was only for warmth. It was purely practical. And yet…

It was nice. It was _ so _ nice.

Then Claude was taken away, and he held El as she held him.

* * *

The first thing Claude noticed was his dry throat. He was very parched. “‘Mitri?” he mumbled.

The arms around him tightened. Claude hummed. “Water?”

A hand gently lifted the ladle to his lips. He drank carefully, making sure not to spill anything.

He cracked open an eye.

“How do you feel?” Edelgard asked.

Claude frowned. Unlike usual, he didn’t feel much pain. He rested his head on Edel’s shoulder and hummed. He closed his eyes, content to drift off.

“Don’t sleep yet, Claude.”

“Mmm, ‘m fine…”

“Yeowch!” Edelgard slapped him across the jaw, smacking away hopes and dreams (mostly just his dreams... though he hadn't dreamed since this whole ordeal began, by some miracle). “I’m awake!”

“We were beginning to worry,” Dimitri said.

“We _ have _ been worried. You’ve been out for awhile.”

“Oh. Sorry. Nhg…” Claude shook his head, trying to shake away the stubborn cobwebs sticking to his mind. He squashed the frustration that built as his ears flopped against his face. “Wha’s the damage this time?”

Edelgard’s eyes drifted down his legs, giving an obvious answer that something happened to his lower half. He felt no pain though. In fact…

He frowned, trying to focus on his legs. The dregs of his drowsiness were washed away as he realized something was wrong.

“One of you, tap my leg.”

“Tap? Uh, if you insist.” Dimitri leaned over and Claude shut his eyes.

“So this might sound bad, but did you tap my leg? Or are you just taking a while?”

“Claude, I’m holding onto your leg right now.” Claude took a sharp intake of breath. “You… you can feel that, right?”

Claude gave a wobbly laugh. “Nothing.” He opened his eyes. Sure enough, Dimitri was leaning over him, his hand resting on Claude’s thigh. “Can’t move a muscle.”

“No, no that can’t be right. Try harder!” 

“Oh, try harder? Why didn’t I _ think of that, _ huh Dimitri?!”

“Shut up, both of you.”

Claude scrubbed a hand through his hair, fingers catching on thick antlers. _ His legs... _

He looked down at his legs. Were circumstances different, he would have been embarrassed to note his pants were gone, nothing but his underwear left. Instead all he felt was numbness. Numbness in his legs and in his head and in his heart.

He ran a hand down his thigh. It might as well have been someone else’s for all he could feel. Reaching his knee, he could see obvious changes. The joint was wrong. Further down his legs were even more mangled. His ankle rested higher. He still had toes at least, no hooves. For now.

He lay back against Dimitri, taking selfish comfort in his support. _ How long would they keep him around now? _

His legs didn’t work. Nevermind his crest— what value did he hold now? He would never lead anything, not the Alliance or Almyra. Who would listen to a mutated cripple? 

The antlers he could have worked with— maybe claimed they were ornamental or something. The ears would have been a harder sell, but he could have always worn a head wrap and never let anyone see his ears. But now? There was no way he could see himself as a viable ruler.

The danger of dying had been real the entire time, but somehow this felt crueler. He could feel his dream crumbling around him in real time. At least he had some hope before, as loathed as he was to ever rely on _ hope _ of all things. 

_ He’d been a fool from the start. _

Edelgard nestled into his side, wrapping one of her wings around his lower half. Dimitri engulfed him from behind. How long until they threw him aside? All he was good for now was an extra warm body. If they were ever freed, they might as well leave him to rot.

And they would, wouldn’t they? Better to claim the last heir of Riegan died in some hole in the ground, rather than to drag a mutated crippled back. Better for Edelgard, better for Dimitri, better for the Alliance. Probably better for him too, to die here in obscurity rather than return home to be paraded about as a failure.

He didn’t notice the tears that silently ran down his cheeks. It hurt, but at the same time he wasn’t surprised. That bitter feeling about being right about something he desperately wanted to be wrong. Deep down… he must have always known this was how things would turn out. He always knew he was destined for failure. His throat hitched.

Why bother holding back? So what if they saw him show another weakness?

His sobs were as pathetic as he was.

It didn’t take long to drift back to sleep.

* * *

When Claude’s body had been roughly dropped back into their tiny cell, Dimitri hadn’t been overly worried. Their last round with the crazy masked man hadn’t been too devastating. He winced at the unnatural angles to Claude’s legs, worried about the pain he’d be in when he woke; but he wasn’t afraid.

His worries quickly shifted to _ if _ Claude woke. He barely stirred, a warm ragdoll in Dimitri’s grip. He didn’t even shiver.

He might not have a good internal clock like Claude, but Dimitri knew too much time was passing with no response. 

The wait was agonizing. Dimitri wanted to pace. He wanted to tear apart their cell and the walls around them. He wanted to rip out the throat of that damned masked man that caused this whole mess. He wanted to taste the man’s blood and he wanted to see the fear in the man’s eyes as Dimitri killed him.

He wanted Claude to wake up.

El took to wrapping a wing around Claude, now that it was large enough to do so. It was warmer than his thin cloak, which was admittedly getting gross.

Then Claude _ did _wake up. The devastation on his face was heartbreaking. It was a small mercy when he fell back asleep.

Then El was taken not long after. Alone with a sleeping Claude. He threaded a hand through Claude’s hair. Claude usually seemed to like it. Dimitri knew ever since he got his mane, being pet was an absolute joy. He scratched around Claude’s ears, wondering if that would bring any comfort. Unlike El and himself, Claude’s ears were still in the same spot along the side of his head. He rubbed the soft brown fuzz, wondering if his own ears felt the same.

He had nothing and no one to pass the time with. The silence felt more damning than the screams of his ghosts ever had. He must be going crazy, but he missed the voices of the dead. Even if they dogged every step he took, demanding their due… he missed his father’s voice.

He missed his father.

Dimitri clutched Claude, rocking them both back and forth. What would happen to them? Claude seemed to think everything was over in his life. He probably wasn’t too far off. But what did Dimitri have going for him? With his new monstrous appearance, he could never be king of anything. 

He would only be useful for killing.

Maybe when this was all over, he would go out and hunt those masked dastards. For his family, the people of Duscur, and for El and Claude.

Maybe then he could die and see Glenn and father and mother. After he avenged them, maybe they wouldn’t look at him with disappointment.

He wanted to stand and pace, to punch the wall or feel something crumble in his fists. But he wouldn’t leave Claude to the cold. He couldn’t.

So he waited.

Then El was back.

Dimitri had to choke back a cry as he saw the changes. Just like Claude. Her feet were replaced with three talons. Below her knee the skin was now a red scaly-like material. Above the knee were black plumes of feathers. Much like Claude’s, her entire leg structure had been changed, though hers less egregious than Claude’s.

He held her and wept. He wept for all three of them, and the ghosts he knew they would soon leave.

* * *

_ Pain is probably a good sign, _Edelgard thought as she came into conscious. 

Her legs _ radiated _ pain. But with merely a thought, they moved. Just as legs should. The relief she felt was immense, almost as much as the guilt she felt.

She opened her eyes to what had become a familiar sight. Claude curled around her, as he had taken to doing when Dimitri was gone. Absently she wondered if she should feel embarrassed with how comfortable she had become around the two boys. The only other person she would willingly allow touches from was Hubert, and even those were fleeting and only when necessary. Yet she couldn’t resist tightening her hold on Claude. Just a little. Just this once.

“Claude?” She quietly called. A flick of his ear told her that he was awake and had heard her. “Claude. How are you doing?”

Claude sighed. He slowly opened his eyes and gave a pitiful attempt at a smile, shrugging. “About the same. How about you?” The droop to his ears was telling— it wasn’t like before where they had looked almost threatening. Now they looked defeated, like he was unable to muster the strength to lift them. 

In response, Edelgard concentrated. The new talons that replaced her feet were difficult to move, much in the same way her wings had been when they first came in. “Not sure how well I’ll walk, but everything seems to work.”

Claude sagged. “Good. That’s good. I’m glad,” he said. She was surprised it came with not even a touch of bitterness or jealousy. His words were Dimitri-level sincere. Though he too looked surprised at how honest his words had been.

“And your…?”

Claude shook his head. “Still nothing.” He gave that awful pitiful smile again.

“Please, don’t make that face.”

“Sorry, you’ll have to live with it, your Highness. It’s the best I’ve got, and trust me. You don’t want to see a grown man cry. No one wants that.”

He said that like a joke, but instead it just struck right to her heart. “Don’t call me that. Please.”

“Aw, you too? Dimitri hates being called that too. Is princess still fine?”

Edelgard grimaced. “Please don’t.”

“Uuugh fine, you two make me _ work _ to come up with nicknames.” He snorted. “Wow, that sounded just like Hilda. Hm, wonder how she’s doing, and the rest of the class…” 

Edelgard couldn’t help but wonder how Hubert was holding up. She knew he would still be searching for her. Unless he had died trying, he would never stop until he found her or her remains.

“I’m sure Lorenz has been celebrating my capture. He’s probably the new class head.” Claude sighed, running a hand down his face. “He’ll probably do better than me anyways. Gah, wish I could have had the chance to wipe that smug look off his face though.”

Edelgard clenched her fists. “You really have given up, haven’t you?”

Claude gave her a bitter chuckle. “I can’t even walk. I’m tired of hoping for impossible things.”

“Your legs aren’t everything Claude,” she found herself snapping at him. “We’re not finished yet.”

Claude regarded her with that piercing gaze of his, the one that seemed to dig through her very soul. It was a look he usually covered with a smile or wink, but those were absent now. He was serious, no facade to hide him now. “You still think we have a chance.”

Edelgard nodded, not daring to break eye contact. “I have too much to do before I die, and it’s not yet finished. I _ will not _die here.”

Claude shook his head. “And what will your Empire think of you? You’re half bird at this point.” 

His words were as painful as they were true. He didn’t say them to be unkind. They were just fact. She thought about Those who Slither. Would they still think of her as their perfect creation? Would they still support her as Flame Emperor?

She thought about the grey and twisted forms of many of the members. For their own society, it wouldn’t reduce her value at all. They supported her because they thought she would be their perfect figure head. A perfect puppet. Crest of Flame and all. But what would her people think? Would the nobles under her still support her despite the mutations? Not all of them were allied with Those who Slither. Enough of them were though, it wouldn’t be a problem. If it was she would make it _ not _ be a problem.

She had to. She had to believe she could work past it.

She had to.

So long as she held the support of Those who Slither in the Dark, she would be fine.

She had to believe she could make it work.

“My people will still accept me, so long as I am still able to lead.”

Claude considered her words. “You really believe that, don’t you.” He gave a small laugh. “I suppose the Empire is very different from the Alliance, though. Your rule is absolute. Mine is shared. Or, it would have been.”

“Join me, then,” she says, surprising herself. But she doesn’t take back the words. “I need people like you Claude, people who are competent and cunning. I don’t care about your legs. I need people I can trust.”

Claude’s eyebrows have gone up to his hairline. “Wow, okay, I’ll admit that’s not what I was expecting you to say.” He hums, looking away from her. “You think I’m trustworthy?” He shoots her one of his old wry grins. “I think that’s the first time anyone’s said that about me.”

She nods. “Yet it’s true.” She found herself surprised to find she _ actually _ did trust Claude. Maybe not with the little things, but when it counted?

“I suppose, if we do manage to get out of here alive…” His gaze traced the stone walls around them. A tiny spark of life returned to his eyes. “If things in the Alliance don’t work out, well. Having a place to fall back on would be nice.”

The idea was surprisingly comforting. That, even after they were free, Claude might still be by her side. His wit and creative genius were something that would only act as a benefit to her cause.

Her cause…

One of the first things she ever learned about Claude was that he was curious. Something she would later learn was an understatement. Claude had a drive to know anything and everything, especially secrets. He wouldn’t accept being left in the dark, and even if she tried, she had no doubt he’d learn her secrets anyways.

A heavy stone settled in her stomach. She had things she needed to tell them. Both Claude and Dimitri. 

She eyed the vacant spot of Dimitri.

“When Dimitri gets back,” _ when, not if, _ “I think there is something I need to confess.”

“Oh-ho Edel, you really know how to reach my heart!” Claude said with a chuckle. It was brittle, but a chuckle was still a chuckle. “I love being bribed with secrets.”

She tried to smile but it wasn’t convincing. “We’ll see what you think when all is said and done. When all the cards are on the table.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So apparently lions don't purr, I have just learned.  
...  
Well they do now.
> 
> More hurt than comfort in this chapter. I'm sorry Claude ;_; Something I wanted to make a small note of: I'm not trying to be abelist in Claude's section. Being paralyzed from the waste down, while awful and certainly something debilitating, is not something equal to death. Claude's views on this are not mine, not to mention he is in a (fiction) medieval setting where circumstances are very different from modern day. I'm assuming this was pretty clear in the text, but I thought I'd make a note just in case.
> 
> One chapter left! It should be out before the end of the week. After that, I'll still be writing for this story, but I'm going to make it a second part of the series since it won't be nearly so dark.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Probably my least favorite chapter, due to all the exposition I had to write. I really want their cooperation to make sense, which... meant a lot of hashing out details. It also doesn't help that I don't fully remember what Edelgard knows and what she doesn't at the start of the game. So I took a educated guess lol. I hope that section isn't boring ^-^'

Claude ran an absentminded hand through Dimitri’s mane. He’d been thinking a lot since his and Edelgard’s talk. He hated the small spark of hope her words caused. 

He didn’t particularly want to join the Empire. They were the most uptight of the three Fódland nations, the place where his upbringing would be plain as day to see and harshest judged. Not necessarily the Almyran side, but the fact that he hadn’t been raised as a Fódland noble. Of course, it was obvious within the Alliance as well, but the Alliance was already a place with a degree of diversity (though not enough). The Empire was… less so.

He couldn’t imagine how Edelgard would be able to pitch herself as still being viable for the throne after all of this. Yet her confidence wasn’t blind bluster. At least, as far as _ she _ was concerned it wasn’t blind bluster. He wasn’t so sure. But there was something she was holding back, something big. She _ knew _ something.

As far as he was concerned, it was impossible for him to do anything after this was all over. He couldn’t move his legs at all, how could he be considered important when he couldn’t so much as move? Yet Edelgard seemed to think otherwise. He didn’t fully trust her, but… he did trust her somewhat. They were similar in many ways. Schemers of different flavors.

It wasn’t much, but it was enough for him to keep going.

Dimitri stirred, butting his face into Claude’s hand with a small keening sound begging for more pets.

Claude pushed back the concern that he felt every time Dimitri seemed to lose himself. He also pushed back the smile that threatened to unfurl across his face at Dimitri’s cute behavior.

“Morning 'Mitri,” Claude whispered as he patted Dimitri’s head and pulled back his hand.

“No, keep doing that…” Dimitri mumbled.

“How do you feel?” Edelgard asked.

“My hands hurt…”

Claude wasn’t surprised. When delivered back to their cell, Dimitri had been stripped of his gauntlets and boots.

Dimitri shook his head as he woke up, ears twitching. He brought his hands up to his face squinting in the dim light. He flexed his fingers a few times before choking out a hiss.

“You alright?” Claude asked. Not that any of them were _ alright. _

Dimitri bit his lip, absentmindedly drawing blood with his sharp teeth. He raised his hand up for Claude and Edelgard to see closer. “Claws,” he whispered.

Indeed, out of each finger long and sharp claws extended. The claws were thick and hardy, and looked like they could easily kill a man. Blood dripped from his fingertips where the claws had extended from. Dimitri turned his hand so his palm was face up, and revealed a raised pink padding. It wasn’t shaped exactly like a cat’s, instead conforming to the natural shape of a human palm.

Dimitri huffed and moved down to look at his feet. They had been altered in a similar manner to his hands— still retaining a mostly human appearance. His legs had a thin smattering of fur, just enough for it to be clear he didn’t merely have hairy legs. His ankle had been pushed up and back, leaving the ball of his foot the only part that remained on the ground. Much like his palms, his feet also had thick pink padding. And as he flexed his feet, claws extended from his toes, drawing blood in the same way as his fingers.

Claude gave a weak smirk. “Why do I get the feeling you’ll be going through a lot of pairs of shoes?”

Dimitri rolled his eyes. “So, hands and feet. Anything else?” He squinted, looking around the cell. “Did this place get more light?”

Claude and Edelgard shared a glance, shaking their heads.

“I can see better…”

Claude leaned in to look closer at Dimitri’s (really pretty) blue eyes. The difference was quickly noticeable.

“Dimitri, your pupil is the size of a marble. Looks like you’ve got cat eyes now.”

He groaned. “Useful, I guess. Please tell me that’s all?”

Edelgard shook her head. She brushed a hand a few inches from his face, causing him to flinch as she touched the nearly invisible whiskers that spread out from his cheeks.

Dimitri brought his own hand up to investigate the new sensation.

“Can’t really see the whiskers themselves, just the dark spots where they poke out from your face. Which just looked like weird freckles. Guess we’re in the ‘weird freckle club’ now too.”

Dimitri sighed. “Goddess, please tell me that’s everything.”

“Looks like it.” Claude nodded.

Dimitri sighed. “Damn, how much longer until we’re more animal than human?”

The silence was telling.

Edelgard sighed. She pushed back from Dimitri’s chest, standing to pace. Claude shivered as the warmth of her wings were pulled away.

Her steps were nothing like her old confident pace. Now she stumbled every few steps, still unused to the change in her knees and feet. Her body tilted side to side with every step, her wings half closed half open as they twitched and shifted her balance. Her head would tilt oddly as she turned, something Claude assumed was due to the changes in her ears. He had noticed a change in his own center of balance, combined with an odd dizziness when he moved after his ears had changed. It had quickly faded as soon as he grew used to it, but he could only imagine it must be more to adjust to for Edelgard.

He tried to ignore the stab of bitterness when he was reminded he couldn’t walk at all.

She continued to pace as she gathered her thoughts. Claude was content to wait, snuggling closer to the warmth of Dimitri. He knew he shouldn’t enjoy the way the other teen would wrap arms around his entire body, but it couldn’t help but feel _ safe. _ Even when he _ knew _ none of them were safe. Dimitri’s arms couldn’t save him from the rounds of experiments. Yet it still _ felt _ safe. Gods, he couldn’t help but enjoy it.

Dimitri gave a confused glance to both of them. Usually none of them paced unless something was wrong. Claude just gave a shrug, waving a hand in a ‘don’t-worry-about-it’ motion.

Finally, Edelgard took a deep sigh and sat down, alone and by herself across from them. The cell was small, but the distance in comparison to their usual closeness was telling.

Dimitri made a small sad sound of confusion. Claude just patted his cheek.

“There are some things that… that I want to bring into the light.” She wrapped her arms around her waist, her wings flattening around her sides. She looked very small. “I will not judge either of you should you decide to hate me. It would only be fair.”

“El, I couldn’t hate—”

“Wait ‘till she’s finished. Don’t say things you can’t be absolutely sure about.”

“Thank you, Claude. You’re right,” Edelgard said, “for what I have to say involves all of Fódland. These are things I have sworn to tell no one. Yet…” Her eyes drifted away.

She took a deep breath. “I was not fully forthcoming with the entirety of the experiments I was once a victim of. I have mentioned that they were nothing like what we are going through now. While this is true, I now believe I was partially incorrect. In fact, I believe our faceless captor is using the same principles, merely in a significantly different manner.”

Most people have ticks or tells when they are nervous. Some, like Edelgard, hold themselves as still as possible. 

“The purpose of their experimentation on my and my siblings was to imbue a secondary crest.”

“Two crests at once? But that’s… that’s impossible, right?” Dimitri’s face pinched.

Claude felt his stomach sink. “It’s rare but… a student in my class has two crests. Though I’m not supposed to know about that.” He thought about Lysithea. He had assumed her crests had been something she’d been born with, but… “White hair,” Claude gasped. “You said your hair turned white.”

Edelgard nodded.

Claude brought a hand to his face. “Then Lysithea… Gods, she’s so young…”

Edelgard nodded again, expression regretful. “Yes. I had heard rumors, and I do believe she was also, well. Like me.”

“You said the experiments stopped with you.”

Edelgard’s face fell. “For a time, I thought they had. Instead, they shifted their focus.”

Claude frowned. “But why? They clearly succeeded with Lysithea, why stop there? Why not give everyone two crests?”

“Because they succeeded in making the perfect puppet. The perfect vessel to lead a new dawn. That was their goal, to make someone that divine providence would declare absolute.” She broke eye contact. “It will be easier to show you two.”

She raised a hand, palm raised upwards. A glimmering light blossomed in the darkness.

“That’s— the crest of Flame?” Claude couldn’t take his eyes off the legendary sigel. “How is that possible?”

“Oh El…”

Edelgard’s face twisted with anger. “Do not give me your _ pity, _ Blaiddyd.”

Dimitri shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. That wasn’t my intention. But… this is…”

Her shoulders slumped, the light of the crest dying. Her eyes lingered along her palm. “It’s far brighter now than I’ve ever managed to make it. I think that is where our experiments are connected. It’s empowering our crests, somehow.”

Out of curiosity, Claude tried summoning the power of his own crest. He gasped as the usual subtle energy raced through him with the force of a hurricane. The crest of Riegan glowed brighter than ever. Willing the power to fade, Claude sucked in gasps of air. “Wow, okay. Wasn’t expecting that.”

“But how does that even make sense?” Dimitri questioned.

“Have either of you seen what becomes of a person attempting to use a Hero’s Relic without a crest?” At the shake of both heads, she continued. “The weapon will consume the host, forming a demonic beast of unparalleled power. The creation and control over these creatures are what Those Who Slither in the Dark are experimenting with. I cannot help but see a twisted parallel. Though we are not beasts, we have been made more and more animal-like. Perhaps it is because we do possess crests that stabilize the process. I do not know.”

“Clearly these evil dastards must be stopped…” Dimitri growled.

“No.”

“No? What do you _ mean ‘No’?!” _ Dimitri snarled.

“Easy big guy, let her finish,” Claude said patting Dimitri.

“There is more to this,” Edelgard continued. “Despite their power, they are not the biggest threat to Fódland. The church is.”

“What is this _ nonsense!” _ Dimitri all but yelled.

“Dammit Dimitri, calm down! She’s not finished yet!” Claude yelled back.

Dimitri huffed. “Fine. Fine! But only because it’s you, El. You must have your reasons.”

“Thank you. I do. Did you know, Wilhelm Hresvelg kept many records of the War of Heroes?”

“You are changing the subject.”

“I am not. These records are kept in a private library in Enbarr. Untouched by church influence. The church teaches the crests were given to the 10 Elites by the Goddess, and that then the 10 Elites joined together with the Saints to fight Seiros. It’s suspicious then that Wilhelm’s personal journal details the Saints fighting _ against _ the 10 Elites. Nor does the church teach anything of the great white beast that rained destruction from the very heavens above, and after battle took on the form of an immortal woman. Beautiful with luminescent green hair. The very same beast that charmed all of Fódland after having beaten the King of Liberation. Saint Seiros herself.”

“This is madness! You can’t truly believe that, El?” Dimitri’s voice was hushed, as though afraid the Goddess herself would strike him down should she hear.

“I do. For it was Saint Seiros that claimed the Crests were blessings, and that those who possess them were to rule. It is the Church that forced the artificial importance of Crests onto society. And through this reliance on the importance of Crests, the church became the true power in Fódland.”

She drew herself together, eye contact as piercing as it was judging. “I shall rid Fódland of the foolish reliance on Crests. They have done nothing but cause strife. I shall reform the very concept of nobility.”

“So, let me get this straight,” Claude said slowly, “The most important battle in all of Fódland's history has been rewritten by a giant wyvern. Then said giant wyvern makes a church and influences the continent into worshiping Crests. Is that about right?”

Edelgard grimaced. “... more or less.”

“And so you want to get rid of the Crest system, and to do that you plan to take down the church?”

She nodded.

“Claude, do you actually believe all of this?” Dimitri hissed. “This is— fantasy!”

“Dimitri, you have a lion’s tail. This is hardly the oddest thing I’ve ever heard.” Claude rolled his eyes. “From an outsider’s perspective, Fódland's religion is already weird. Honestly, you could tell me that the ghost of Nemesis will rise and haunt the land five years from now, and I wouldn’t bat an eye.”

“You believe me?” Edelgard said, voice purposefully kept as level as possible.

Claude shrugged. “I don’t _ not _ believe you. I’d need to do a little digging myself, but I’ll believe you as far as the church is shady and covering up something big. I already figured that much on my own.”   
  
“That’s more than I expected, if I’m honest.” Edelgard gave a small smile.

Dimitri was frowning down at Claude. “... surely Fódland's religion isn’t that weird?”

Claude barked out a laugh. “It’s _ very _ weird.” He turned back to Edelgard. “I’m no fan of the church myself. It’s very—” he pitched his voice high in an attempt to mimic Rhea’s voice— _ “burn the heathens! My Goddess says your opinion is wrong and that you suck! You aren’t allowed to disagree with me, boo hoo hoo!” _

“Claude!” Dimitri’s scandalized voice brought another laugh to Claude’s lips.

“I had no idea you felt this way Claude,” Edelgard said. “You’ve never shown such distaste before…”

“And yet he’s never been pious, either,” Dimitri grumbled.

Claude gave a shrug. “I’ll give thanks to the crops that feed me and the water that hydrates me before I thank some lady in the sky that I’ve never seen before. Timber from a forest will shelter a village, but the Goddess has never come on down from her lofty clouds to lend a helping hand.”

“That’s—! Gah, that’s a very _ you _ way to think, Claude. I’m both scandalized and impressed.”

“I’ll take that as a compliment!”

“Claude, are you someone I can count on?” Edelgard steered the conversation back to the darker undertone.

“Mm, to take down the church? No, not quite.”

Edelgard’s face fell, crumbling with a well of disappointment he’s all too familiar with. The one that says _ I was right, but I didn’t want to be. _

“Now hold your sad little horses, Edel. I’m not saying I won’t help. Far from it. But there’s still something you’re holding back, I can tell. Those that experimented on us— you don’t seem as hostile with them as I would expect.”

“I _despise them._ They have destroyed all that I love, again and again.” Then she sighed and looked away. “But I am also allied with them.”

“You’re _ what?!” _ Dimitri cried, rising to stand in shock.

Claude fell to the floor with a grunt, annoyed at his own inability to catch himself. All he could do was lay on the floor as Dimitri’s hulking figure advanced on Edelgard. To her credit, she did not shrink or show any form being intimidated.

“These vile _ monsters _ that killed your siblings— you’re _ allied _with them?!” His ears were pressed flat against his head, a growl rumbling from his chest. “They’re responsible for Duscur too, aren’t they?! That’s why you refused to tell me!”

Edelgard regarded Dimitri with a stony expression.

He bent down, his face inches from hers. “You were _ involved, weren’t you!” _

“I wasn’t,” she calmly stated.

“And how can I trust _ anything _ you say?!”

“Dimitri! Will you calm _ down? _ ” Claude barked, his annoyance at his legs and the cell and Dimitri and this _ damned _shadow organization draining his patience. “We won’t learn anything if you keep this up!”

Dimitri whirled on him. Claude’s eyes caught on Dimitri’s claws. Then back to his face, the rage clouding his inhuman eyes. The sharp teeth he bared.

Claude regarded Dimitri. He tried to hold onto the memories of the other’s warm embrace. Instead, all he could think of was how easily Dimitri could kill him. Him, a wounded animal. A deer with broken legs. Dimitri, a predator. With strength and speed and oh so sharp teeth.

Dimitri, a caged lion, angry and starving and ready to rip into the first throat he got his teeth into. Claude, fresh meat. Nowhere to run.

It didn’t come to that. 

“I was chained underneath Enbarr when it happened, Dimitri,” Edelgard’s steely voice rang through the small cell. “I had no involvement, nor any method to stop it.”

Dimitri grit his teeth, his fists clenching. Blood dripped onto the stone from where Dimitri cut into his own palms.

“You aren’t the only one who lost someone there, Dimitri. _ She was my mother too.” _

Dimitri jerked, a flash of surprise flying across his face. Then guilt.

“Then why?” He whispered. “Why ally with them?”

“Who else would help her take down the Church?” Claude answered for her. “The Alliance would have no reason to back her. Faerghus has strong ties with the Church. What other ally would be strong enough to help?”

“It is as Claude says.”

“They took _ everything _ from me.”

“You think I’m not the same, Dimitri?” She shouted. “No, don’t start. I’m not saying I had it any worse or better than you. But they have claimed the life of everyone but my father. My father, who they made so sick and powerless he could do nothing as he was forced to watch his own children die.” She gave a shuddering breath. “I _ despise _ them. But I have no other choice.”

“You do _ now _,” Claude said.

She nodded. “Yes. And I am hinging _ everything _ on this conversation.” Her voice broke.

Dimitri sighed, the fight leaving his body. He slumped against the wall and fell to a sitting position, burying his face in his hands.

“Edelgard, I have to admit: I admire you. You’ve taken a bad hand and are making the most of it. You’ve had to make a bunch of hard choices, that’s clear.” Claude huffed a small laugh. “You’re missing the view of an outsider.”

“Are you saying…?” Edelgard’s hope was painful to hear.

“But you’re going about this the wrong way.”

“Oh?”

Claude cocked a grin. He wished he was in a better position than ‘stuck on the floor’ but he made do. He splayed his hands before him. “You’re using those Slitherer people to take down the Church. You’ll wage war, probably soon too, right?”

Her silence was all the answer he needed.

He tisked, shaking his head. “You don’t need a war. You don’t need the Slitherers. Instead of using an organization that is using you right back, why not use the Church?”

Edelgard frowned. “You’re smarter than this Claude. You know why I can’t.”

“I don’t, actually. Stop looking at your Crest of Flame and look at your Crest of Seiros instead. Think about it. Someone will have to replace Rhea someday. The archbishop always has a Crest of Seiros. And if you were the head, you could begin implementing changes to the Crest system. Or just destroy the Church from the inside through perceived ‘incompetence’.”

Edelgard’s lips parted in surprise. “That’s…” she trailed off. Then she shook her head. “It won’t work.”

“Enlighten me as to why. C’mon, we can workshop this.”

“For one, Lady Rhea is one of those white beasts. I am certain of this. She won’t die, not any time soon.” She grimaced. “It’s possible she may be Saint Seiros herself.”

“Huh.” Claude mulled it over in his head. “Guess that would make sense. I did think it was odd that the records showed every Archbishop with a Crest of Seiros. In the past thousand years, not a single skipped generation? But if it’s been the same person, that would make sense.” He shrugged. “In that case, instead of waiting for Rhea to die, we just stage an ‘accident’ and she dies.”

“Claude!” Dimitri yelped. “You can’t just casually suggest ‘assassination’ as a valid way forward!”

“Why not, Mr. ‘I’ll kill every last one of them’?”

Dimitri had the self awareness to look chagrined. 

“I mean, I’d rather avoid assassination too. Even _ if _she isn’t exactly human, it still doesn’t feel right getting her killed. We’ve got time though, we can work this out.”

But Edelgard still shook her head. “Even if we managed to assassinated a millennia old beast, I cannot afford a slow reform.” She looked at the ceiling of their cell. “Since I am spilling all of my secrets, I suppose this one might as well be told too. The presence of two crests in my body has dramatically reduced my lifespan. I _ don’t _ have time.”

Dimitri took a sharp intake of breath. “El…”

“What have I said about _ pity?” _

He shook his head. “I’m not giving you pity.” He grit his teeth. “I feel so helpless. Damn… Dammit. How short?”

Edelgard shrugged. “No one knows. There haven’t been any deaths by old age for people with two crests before.”

“El, are we talking about ‘die at 40’ or ‘could die any hour now’?”

“No, no. If I had to take a guess, I would say my lifespan is somewhere in the low 30s.”

“I see why the slow route doesn’t appeal to you.” Claude hummed. “So you’re really planning to plunge the whole of Fódland in war to meet your goals.”

Dimitri’s eyes widened. “What? Claude, she never said that— just the Church.”

“It won’t just be the Church, Dimitri. They’ve got too much political power. We’ll be drawn in too.”

Edelgard nodded. “Correct again, Claude. The Empire is readying for war.” Her expression cracked. “Even if I die here, the Empire will march upon the Church. The upper echelon of the Empire is in the pocket of Those Who Slither in the Dark. But if I lead, I can minimize their power.”

“Well that’s—” Claude paused, his ears twitching. “Wait, quiet.”

Silence descended, interrupted only by the rhythmic sound of steps drawing closer.

Then the door to their cell slammed open.

They should have had more time.

The masked man waltzed into the cell, heading straight for Claude.

Dimitri hissed. “No, no wait!”

Claude couldn’t help the bolt of fear that thrummed through him. Dimitri and Edelgard weren’t far away, but any distance at all felt like isolation as the dark scientist advanced on him.

“Touch him and I’ll _ rip out your throat!” _ Dimitri roared.

“And then your friend will die,” was the doctor’s chipper response, “so for his sake I don’t recommend it.”

Dimitri seethed, but held himself back.

The doctor yanked Claude’s chin forward in a rough motion, cold fingers gripping painfully tight. He moved Claude’s face side to side, tisking.

Claude couldn’t help but fear this time. The cultist’s experiments on his legs had failed— would he be deemed a failed experiment all together?

Claude stared into the black eyes of the bird mask. He wondered if he was about to die.

“Looks like I have my work cut out for me now,” the man oozed sadistic glee.

“Why are you doing this?” Edelgard’s words burst with a desperation he had never heard from her. “Don’t you know who I am?!”

The man laughed. “I do, and I don’t care. In fact, I _ relish _ knowing who you are. _ They _ refused to understand my masterpiece.” The man laughed harder. “This chance to ruin _ Their _ masterpiece? It brings me such great joy. Pah, They won’t trust you ever again, not with my experiments blessing you.”

Claude felt the familiar hands of the guards picking up his body. He tried to keep the fear off his face.

“Have no doubt, little birdie. When the Others see you, They will despair the loss of Their favorite pawn. But They will never work with you again. No, They’ll assume I’ve manipulated your mind, the shortsighted fools.” The man cackled, and then Claude knew nothing.

* * *

  


With Claude gone, it was too quiet.

Dimitri approached Edelgard carefully. She hunched in on herself, great wings covering her from the rest of the world.

He sat beside her, just out of reach.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “For earlier. I let my anger get the best of me.”

She sighed. “It was what I expected.”

Dimitri felt shame curl in his belly. “I’m sorry,” he whispered again.

Edelgard huffed. “Well, I didn’t expect an apology, so thank you. I didn’t expect you to hear me out either.”

Dimitri shook his head ruefully. “I probably wouldn’t have, if not for Claude.”

“What does it matter anyways? We haven’t been rescued yet. I doubt we will be.”

Dimitri’s eyes widened. “El, you’re giving up?”

She gave a bitter and broken laugh. “Everything I have done, everything I have ever strived towards has been for naught. Our captor was right. Even if we were freed, it wouldn’t matter. I’m out of the game.”

Her wings came away from her face, revealing the tears that were beginning to fall. Her usual mask was gone, despair plain on her face.

He was reaching for her before he thought about it. Arms outstretched, he hugged her to his chest as she began to sob.

“I tried, Dimitri. I tried to carve out my future.” Her voice broke.

Dimitri ran a hand down through her hair, as gentle as he could. Even as children, El had seemed untouchable. Brilliant, competent, strong, charismatic. Unflinching in all things, never once crying. It felt wrong to watch as she fell apart in his arms.

Dimitri wasn’t a schemer like Claude. His intentions were painfully visible, no matter how much he tried to hide them. Foresight was not his best strength either. He didn’t have Edelgard’s confidence or view of the big picture. He knew he would be a rubbish King, had he ever the chance to take the throne.

He grimaced at the tracks of blood he was leaving in her white hair.

All he was good for was killing.

But he’s known this for a long time. The ghosts never let him forget, for all that they remain silent now. 

He now knew the real perpetrators of Duscur, and his ability to kill had only grown in this imprisonment. The loss of his humanity to sate the will of the dead was a price he was willing to pay.

But he wasn’t the only one to suffer this. He had watched the light die behind Claude’s eyes. Claude tried to keep up good cheer, but Dimitri knew that Claude had no misgivings about ever seeing the sky again.

And now Edelgard was shattering. Out of all the crazy things she told him, this was the most unbelievable.

She was_ Edelgard. _ Edelgard von Hresvelg, heir to the Empire and born leader.

She was El.

“I’ll help you, El. I swear it.”

Her sobs continued. “It doesn’t matter anymore, Dimitri. My only ally, rotten as they may be, will no longer follow my command. And they will make certain I am never Emperor. I miscalculated.”

“Damned hells El, _ I’ll _ be your ally! We can still—”

“Still _ what?!” _ She shouted, pulling her face from his chest, feathers bristling. _ “What _is left for me to do? I will not have an Empire to return to, Those who Slither will make that certain.”

“Then what of Claude’s plan? Infiltrate the church!”

She stared at him, her lips opening in surprise. “... the Church?”

“Yes! We can’t know that they’ll reject us. If the Empire does disown you, you still can find a place of power within the Church. It won’t be easy, but you can’t give up now.” He wiped a tear from her cheeks with his thumb. “Please.”

She cracked a tiny smile. “Make the Church my base of power, even when I know the Empire will march at the end of the year?”

Dimitri grimaced at the deadline El unwittingly admitted, but she didn’t notice. 

“Maybe… maybe…”

“That’s all I can ask, El. I’ll be by your side, no matter what.”

“Don’t you have a kingdom to run?” she gave a weak tease.

He shrugged. “I might, or I might not. We’ll have to wait and see.”

She sighed. “You seem so certain we will be rescued.”

He remained silent. Even if he was entirely turned into a lion, he would still hunt Those Who Slither until the day he died. His goal was simple compared to hers and Claude’s.

He ran a careful hand through her hair. Her wings unfurled and wrapped around them both. It wasn’t long before they both drifted to sleep.

* * *

It was the cold that woke him.

Claude was surprised his eyes opened at all. Surprised he was still alive. He groaned, feeling disoriented. He felt _ off _in a way he couldn’t begin to try and describe. Like his insides had been scooped out and placed back ever so slightly to the left.

More surprising was the pain in his lower half.

His lower half, that he could feel.

He tried to kick, and… well, something moved. It felt wrong. But he could move. He could move!

He held back his excitement as his eyes landed on Edelgard and Dimitri, asleep across the cell. He assumed, at least. All he could really see was Edelgard’s dark wings and a few tufts of blond.

He ran a hand along his face, wiping away dried sweat. He felt exhausted. Yet the distance between him and the other two felt oppressive. Dangerous. It was probably a bad sign that he could feel his anxiety rising just by being separated.

And he was cold. They were warm.

He shook a leg, grinning at the painful soreness. He could _ feel _ again. He could move. 

He could _ walk! _

He scrambled to his feet and immediately landed on his face.

He couldn’t walk.

“Noooo why…” he whined to himself.

He tried to sort out the waves of sensation his legs were sending him, but he couldn’t make sense of any of it.

_ Got too excited, _ he chided himself. Tried to run before he even checked the damage done.

He looked down at the two brown furry legs below him. He blinked, and noticed the two brown furry legs behind the first two.

He counted them again. Two plus two.

Four legs.

Four legs?

He poked his first leg. Yep, he felt that. He poked one of the hind legs. Weird, but he also felt that.

Four legs.

Huh.

“What the fuck?!” he shouted, clasping his head.

“Nhu?!” Dimitri elegantly replied.

“Wake the _ fuck _ up you two I am having a _ crisis _ right now!”

“Claude?” Edelgard’s voice croaked, sounding surprisingly relieved. Black wings unfurled as Edelgard turned around, Dimitri’s head popping up above hers.

“Claude…? Are those…?” Dimitri, sweet confused Dimitri, squinted at him.

“I don’t know, but there are _ four _ legs attached to me and that is _ two too many!” _

“Calm down,” Edelgard’s tone demanded. She quickly rose and strode over to him. Her eyes were red rimmed. With teartracks stained on her cheeks. Had she been crying?

She placed a hand along his… leg. Thigh? Flank? “Hmm…” She turned her head left to right to left again, taking in each new inch of him. She ran a hand along the creamy-white fur of his underbelly, patting his... chest? The area between his new forelegs? She patted the area that, had he been 100% deer, would have been his chest. Had he been 100% human it would have been his dick. Now it was a weird lower torso… thing.

“Claude, it appears you have deer legs,” Dimitri deduced.

“No shit!” He cried, hand grabbing a fistful of hair. Which also meant grabbing a fistful of antler, just in case he forgot they were there.

“Ah, you have white spots along your back as well. Er, not your back, but your… deer back? They do look to match the white freckles on your face as well…”

“Gods, I’m not a fawn!” He cried, though to Dimitri or himself he wasn’t sure. “I’m nearly 18!”

He twitched one of the front legs, only achieving smacking a hoof into the stone. _ Hooves. _

“Oh, you can move again!” Edelgard gasped, her face lighting up.

He groaned into his hand. It _ was _ good that he was no longer paralyzed from the waist down. But…

“Ugh, I lost two legs and got four in return. Is this a good time to mention that I don’t know how to ride a horse?”

Edelgard patted his flank. “Good thing you’re not riding anything then. You _ are _ the horse in this metaphor.”

“I still don’t know how to work these things.”

Edelgard’s wings gave a small flap behind her. “You just need to start moving around with them. After a while your mind will figure it out.”

He groaned again, but tried to take her advice. Half a minute of flailing random limbs later and he sighed, sinking onto the cold floor in defeat. “Well, at least I still have hands…” he mumbled into the floor. He didn’t know _ what _ he would do if he lost his hands.

His entire upper half appeared unchanged as far as his eyes could see. The outer shirt he wore was gone, leaving only his yellow undershirt. Short sleeved, thin not-helping-at-all-with-the-cold undershirt. It did expose the white freckles that ran along his arms though, and presumably crept all the way up to his shoulders and down his back.

He yawned. “Can I relearn how to walk after I take a nap?”

Dimitri chuckled, settling in behind him.

“Aw man, no more using Dimitri as a bed for me…” Claude bemoaned, kicking a hoof. He was actually feeling genuinely upset at the fact.

In response, Dimitri put a hand around Claude’s waist and pulled his upper half into his chest. Claude instinctively (not on purpose, it was embarrassing!) fisted his hands into Dimitri’s shirt, snuggling as close as he could.

“Will this suffice?”

Claude was about to complain that no, it wasn’t, his lower half was _ freezing, _ but then Edelgard inserted herself. One wing came up to wrap around the trio, the other resting over the rest of Claude.

“Mmm, never thought a feather blanket could be this cozy,” he mumbled as he wrapped an arm around her.  
  


* * *

  


“I got it, I got it, I gooooot it…” His legs fell out from under him, knocking the breath from his lungs. “Oof… don’t got it.”

“You’ve been doing well, Claude! You’re almost there,” Dimitri cheered.

“Ngh, easy for you to say…” Arms outstretched for balance, his four legs eased himself back up into a standing position. Though a bit shaky, standing was becoming easier and easier. Walking, on the other hand…

“Let me try something,” Edelgard’s exasperated voice was all the warning he had.

Edelgard chucked one of the empty food trays at him. “Aah! Edel, why! I thought we were friends!” he dramatically cried as he hopped out of the way.

Then Dimitri started clapping. “You did it!”

Oh. He had jumped out of the way. Looking down, sure enough, he had moved. Huh.

“You’re problem is that you’re thinking too hard. Your body knows what to do even if your mind doesn’t.”

He rolled his eyes. “No need to be so smug.”

In response she threw another tray.

An hour later and he was finally getting it down. He could now trot with a reasonable amount of success.

“I’m going to infiltrate the church,” Edelgard said out of nowhere.

Claude quickly reined in his shock. “Came around to the idea huh?”

She ignored him. “Even without me, the Empire will attack the Church by the end of the year.”

Claude hissed at the information. That was not a great timeframe. “And if they attack the church, that will pull all of Fódland into it.”

Edelgard nodded. “Indeed.”

“So, what’s our gameplan? Assuming you have one, that is.”

Edelgard regarded him with a fragile but hopeful smile. “‘Our’? So you’re with me, then?” 

Claude scoffed, an ear flicking in mock irritation. “Do you even need to ask? Yes, I’m with you. Your goal and my dream, they line up pretty well I think.” He smiled. “And Dimitri?”

Dimitri nodded. “I will kill those who caused the Tragedy of Duscur, and avenge the dead. Being that they are also your enemies, I think that aligns my goals with yours as well.”

Claude rested his arms behind his head, smiling. “Hah, there isn’t anyone else I’d rather have by my side. Or trust by my side, for that matter.”

Edelgard nodded, smiling as well. “The feeling is mutual.”

“The thought of separation is… not something I wish to consider,” Dimitri said. “I want to see both of you succeed. Together, the three of us… we’re stronger for it. We cover each other’s weaknesses well.”

Claude sighed, the smile slipping off his face. “Not to be a buzzkill, but we _ are _still trapped with no way out.”

“Perhaps we should change that, then,” Edelgard states, her determination solidifying her words.

“We can’t fight out way out. There’s a magical barrier around the room. What else is there left for us to do?” Claude sighed.

Dimitri growled in lieu of a real reply.

“Yeah Edelgard, Dimitri agrees with me.”

Dimitri blinked. “That was just my frustration with the situation, actually.”

Claude ignored him.

There was a long moment of silence.

Claude gave a thematic wave of his hands. “I know! Let’s pray to the Goddess! You’re going to be infiltrating the Church after all, Edel.” 

Edelgard rolled her eyes. “Har har. No need to rub it in.”

Claude pitched his voice with every grain of fake reverence that his body could muster. He clasped his hands, bowing his head. “Oh Goddess, from your lofty place high in the sky, hear the pleas of your children.” He paused, voice returning to normal. “These three children in particular. Ignore any other child for the moment.” He switched back to his fake reverence, making sure to put too much emphasis on each word he spoke. “We _ beseech _ thee, _ great _ Goddess! Bring us our salvation! Our freedom! A hole in the ceiling, a crack in the wall, an earthquake. Anything!” He couldn’t help a snicker, quickly schooling his face. “Or maybe, if you _ truly _ love your three children, you could bring us the greatest tool for escape: a new friend, come to free us! For what wall can friendship not climb?”

Dimitri was red in the face, ears flat and head in his palms. “I’m beginning to think your blasphemy is what landed you hear in the first place, Claude,” he huffed without heat.

Edelgard had a hand to her mouth, struggling and failing to hold back giggles.

“How can the Goddess-given gift of _ friendship _ be blasphemy, Dimitri?!”

Edelgard gave up her struggle, openly laughing.

Dimitri’s lips curled into a fond smile. He rolled his eyes, but the smile remained. “Shouldn’t you end your prayer, Claude?”

“Oh, right! Can’t just leave the Goddess hanging, can I.” He loudly cleared his throat. “Hey Goddess— wait we’re all children of the Goddess, so can I just call you mom?— Dear mom, the mom that is omnipresent and omnipotent and not married to my father, thanks for taking the time to listen. You’re a real pal, the real deal.” He lifted his head and looked at Dimitri and Edelgard. He was pleased to note that Dimitri was now struggling to hold back laughter as well. “Hey wait so if we’re all children of the Goddess, does that mean we’re siblings?” He didn’t wait for a reply, bowing his head back down. “So anyways mom, my kickass siblings and I would love it if you could send us a rescue party. Someone badass who could single-handedly beat the shit out of Mr.mask-face. And more importantly, someone to build a lifelong friendship with. Ooh! Make them hot too!”

“Claude!” Dimitri choked through laughter.

“Yeah, definitely make them hot. Dimitri agrees!”

“That’s not—” 

“Anyways sorry for taking so much of your time, I know your a busy single mother. I’ll try to be a good son and pray every week! Bye!”

He burst into laughter along side the other two.

After a short time, Dimitri shook his head, his laughter subsided. “Claude, please tell me you do actually know how to properly pray to the Goddess?”

Claude shook his head. “I’ve been guessing so far. Hm, maybe that’s why Seteth seems to hate me.”

This stirred another bout of laughter.

Laughter that was broken as the door slammed open. The mirth in their cell drained immediately.

It wasn’t the masked man though. It wasn’t even one of the guards.

The light from beyond the cell gave the woman a halo around her bright blue hair. The sword at her side was splattered with fresh red. Her clothes were odd. Provocative. Flowered tights and a shirt that displayed her midriff and ample cleavage.

She held a glowing talisman, tapping it to one of the walls. There was a hum, and the glow stopped.

“The barrier is now gone. Who are you?” She questioned, her face as unemotive as the stone.

Claude picked his jaw off the floor. He turned to look at Dimitri and Edelgard. Both with faces as flabbergasted and flushed red as Claude was sure his own was.

Dimitri turned to Claude. “Holy shit,” Dimitri whispered. “You did it Claude.”

“We’re free?” Edelgard gasped, her eyes still on the woman. On further examination, her eyes were specifically on their savior’s cleavage. 

The woman gave the slightest frown. She nodded. 

“I can’t believe Claude’s prayer worked…” Dimitri muttered to himself.

“You killed the beak man, right?” Claude asked.

The woman nodded.

“She’s even hot…” Dimitri whispered.

Claude elbowed him.

“... Do any of you require a healer?”

Claude grimaced. “Er, probably. We’ve been stuck here and experimented on for over a week.”

The woman nodded. “Follow.” Then she was gone.

With one last disbelieving shared glance, they stumbled after her. Claude stumbling more than the other two, but managed to walk.

The light of the corridor was bright, too bright, and it was incredible.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... Did I accidentally put Edelgard down the Silver Snow route?
> 
> I'm not finished writing for this fic. The first chapter of the second part should be out sometime next week. I decided to split the two since the second half is way more light hearted and fluffy, and doesn't need all the dark and angsty tags clogging it up.
> 
> For the record, this will NOT devolve into a Dimitri/Edelgard/Claude/Byleth fic. It won't go beyond a puppy crush.


End file.
